Payne & Fears LLP Recognized by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers in 2023 “Best Law Firms” Rankings
November 28, 2022 —
Payne & Fears LLPPayne & Fears LLP is pleased to announce that the firm has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers 2023 “Best Law Firms” list. Firms included in the 2023 edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” are recognized for professional excellence with consistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. This includes the top 5% of private practicing lawyers in the United States.
Payne & Fears LLP has been ranked in the following practice areas:
- Commercial Litigation
- Employment Law – Management
- Insurance Law
- Labor Law – Management
- Litigation – Labor & Employment
- Litigation – Real Estate
- Litigation – Intellectual Property
Additionally, on August 15, 2022, 11 of our attorneys were selected for inclusion in
The Best Lawyers in America® 2023. Collectively bringing decades of experience and dedication to their practice, Jeffrey K. Brown, Daniel F. Fears, Daniel M. Livingston, Thomas L. Vincent, Benjamin A. Nix, James L. Payne, Scott S. Thomas, and Kelby Van Patten received this respected achievement. Additionally, Leilani E. Jones, Sarah J. Odia, and Matthew C. Lewis were included in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch 2023.
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Payne & Fears LLP
For Smart Home Technology, the Contract Is Key
June 07, 2021 —
James W. McPhillips & Rachel Newell - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogIn our
previous post we discussed the importance of conducting a thorough due diligence and procurement process with smart technology providers. Next up? The contract.
The price of a procured product is always important, but equally important are other contractual terms that reflect the commercial agreement. Ultimately, the contract should answer the fundamental question of “What are you buying?” The product itself is not the only feature being purchased. A customer is also buying certainty, service performance, risk mitigation, flexibility, security, compliance, and other similar “intangible” items of value.
The Price of Certainty
As part of the price, the purchaser of smart technology is also buying certainty. What do we mean by that?
Reprinted courtesy of
James W. McPhillips, Pillsbury and
Rachel Newell, Pillsbury
Mr. McPhillips may be contacted at james.mcphillips@pillsburylaw.com
Ms. Newell may be contacted at rachel.newell@pillsburylaw.com
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What Does It Mean When a House Sells for $50 Million?
September 10, 2014 —
Jonathan J. Miller – BloombergOne of the byproducts of the global financial crisis has been the creation of a new class of housing and buyers. Some of the strongest evidence is the rise in the number of residences sold for more than $50 million.
A buyer recently paid a record $71.3 million for a Manhattan co-op, breaking the $70 million record set only a few months earlier. These sales seem modest compared with a $147 million sale in East Hampton, New York, and a $120 million sale in Greenwich, Connecticut, the two highest U.S. residential transactions in 2014. There have been six sales of more than $100 million in the past four years, with more likely to come.
Wealthy investors have benefited from rising stock markets, while preserving capital by acquiring assets such as U.S. residential real estate. However, the high-end market isn't a proxy for the health of the broader U.S. housing market. Unlike the buyers in the market's upper strata, who often are foreign and all-cash purchasers, the majority of U.S. homebuyers remain dependent on access to credit. And today's tight lending conditions aren’t expected to ease anytime soon. According to the Federal Reserve, only a small number of banks have recently eased mortgage standards.
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Jonathan J. Miller, BloombergMr. Miller may be contacted at
jmiller@millersamuel.com
Buyer Beware: Insurance Agents May Have No Duty to Sell Construction Contractors an Insurance Policy Covering Likely Claims
May 20, 2024 —
David McLain - Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLCConstruction contractors in the market for insurance coverage have few legal protections if their insurance agent fails to provide insurance that covers likely claims against the contractor. As construction defect lawsuits continue to be a frequent occurrence throughout Colorado, we have seen an increase in the number and complexity of coverage endorsements and exclusions in insurance policies. Some of these exclusions result in insurance policies that are essentially useless to the contractor who purchased them. For example, we have seen dirt work contractors with earth movement exclusions or an earth movement sublimit that turns their $2 million policy into a $100,000 policy. We have seen contractors who primarily build tract homes in subdivisions with tract home exclusions. We have seen general contractors whose policies state that every subcontractor must name the contractor as an additional insured or else the general contactor’s policy converts from a seven-figure policy to a five-figure policy with eroding limits (meaning that the attorney’s fees, expert fees, and litigation costs reduce the coverage limits). The list goes on and leads to an unfortunately high number of contractors who pay significant sums for their insurance policies, finding themselves uninsured or underinsured.
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David McLain, Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLCMr. McLain may be contacted at
mclain@hhmrlaw.com
Managing Partner Jeff Dennis Recognized as One of the Most Influential Business People & Opinion Shapers in Orange County
November 17, 2016 —
Newmeyer & Dillion LLPNEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Nov 15th, 2016 – Prominent business and real estate law firm Newmeyer & Dillion LLP is pleased to announce that managing partner Jeff Dennis was selected as one of the 500 most influential business people and opinion shapers in Orange County by the Orange County Business Journal (OCBJ). Dennis will be recognized in OCBJ’s inaugural issue, OC500, publishing November 14, 2016.
Located in the Newport Beach office, Dennis currently serves as the Firm’s Managing Partner and specializes in a variety of litigation arenas, including construction, real estate and business litigation. He also handles insurance and higher education matters. Tom Newmeyer, Newmeyer & Dillion’s Co-founding Partner, believes the award is representative of the leadership displayed by Dennis. “Jeff is an uncanny consensus builder, and you can see his steady hand in the firms’ growth and success. This recognition is a testament to his strong commitment to the community and his ability to facilitate innovative changes in Orange County.”
Dennis believes that community participation is a vital part of his law practice. He currently serves on the Executive Leadership Team for the American Heart Association’s Orange County Heart Walk. Under Dennis’ leadership, the firm proudly supports the OC Heart Walk, with over 150 participants joining Team N&D in 2016. As such, he volunteered to serve in the Orange County District Attorney’s selective Trial Advocacy Partnership (TAP) program. He is the past president of the Occidental College Board of Governors and helped lead Occidental’s Alumni Association as its former Orange County Regional Chair.
About Newmeyer & Dillion
For more than 30 years, Newmeyer & Dillion has delivered creative and outstanding legal solutions and trial results for a wide array of clients. With over 70 attorneys practicing in all aspects of business, employment, real estate, construction and insurance law, Newmeyer & Dillion delivers legal services tailored to meet each client’s needs. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with offices in Walnut Creek, California and Las Vegas, Nevada, Newmeyer & Dillion attorneys are recognized by The Best Lawyers in America©, and Super Lawyers as top tier and some of the best lawyers in California, and have been given Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review's AV Preeminent® highest rating. For additional information, call 949-854-7000 or visit www.ndlf.com.
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The Association of Southern California Defense Counsel (ASCDC) and the Construction Defect Claims Managers Association (CDMA) Annual Construction Defect Seminar
December 04, 2013 —
CDJ STAFF
The Association of Southern California Defense Counsel (ASCDC) and the Construction Defect Claims Managers Association (CDMA) Jointly Present the 2013 Construction Defect Seminar and Holiday Party to be Held Thursday, December 5, at the Hilton Hotel, Costa Mesa
Professional development activities will include panel discussions including “What Happened to Simple HOA Actions – Litigating Commercial Projects,” a roundtable discussion by Ross Hart, Keith Koeller, Alex Robertson, Les Robertson, Todd Schweitzer, Wendy Wilcox, and Brian D. Kahn. A timely discussion of California’s “right to repair” laws “SB800 – Is It Still Worth Fighting For?,” will be presented by Nick Cammarota, Timothy Earl, Luke Ryan, Dave Simons, Dave Stern, John Terry, and Adrienne Cohen is also on the the agenda.. Additionally, Assemblyman Donald P. Wagner will serve as the event’s Special Guest Speaker.
Bert L. Howe & Associates, Inc. is pleased to return this year as an event sponsor. BHA will be exhibiting our latest inspection data collection system and forensic analysis platforms newly optimized for the new iOS 7. Visitors of the BHA exhibit booth can enter into our drawing for a 16 GB iPad Air with WiFi.
Professional development activities will be followed by a holiday party and reception honoring the Orange County Judiciary. The reception will be hosted by Glenn Barger, Adrienne Cohen, and Brian Kahn. It will place from 5:30 p.m. through 7.00 p.m.
For further information for the event, please visit http://www.ascdc.org/Events.asp.
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Architectural Democracy – Interview with Pedro Aibéo
July 13, 2017 —
Aarni Heiskanen - AEC BusinessIn this podcast interview with Pedro Aibéo, we discuss Architectural Democracy, a research project, and its practical implementations.
Architectural Democracy started as a doctoral research by Pedro Aibéo, architect and civil engineer. Pedro has been doing his research at Aalto Bim Lab, Aalto University School of Engineering. The project has now grown into a larger working group of researchers and entrepreneurs who are currently putting in practice the developed technologies.
Pedro’s research “aims at investigating possibilities and benefits of combining existing technologies (Smartphones and BIM) in collaboration with government policies, in order to include end-users as participants in the decision making process of the built environment.”
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Aarni Heiskanen, AEC BusinessMr. Heiskanen may be contacted at
info@aepartners.fi
Illinois Supreme Court Holds That the Implied Warranty of Habitability Does Not Extend to Subcontractors
March 04, 2019 —
Michael J. Ciamaichelo - The Subrogation StrategistThe implied warranty of habitability allows a homeowner to recover damages for latent defects that interfere with the intended use of a home. In Sienna Court Condo. Ass’n v. Champion Aluminum Corp., 2018 IL 122022, 2018 Ill. LEXIS 1244 (2018), the Supreme Court of Illinois held that buyers of new homes cannot assert claims for breach of the implied warranty of habitability against subcontractors involved in the construction of the homes because the subcontractors have no contractual relationship with the homeowners and the damages are purely economic. As the court explained, the implied warranty of habitability is a creature of contract (not tort) and, therefore, only exists when there is contractual privity between the defendants and the homeowners.
In Sienna, a group of condominium unit owners alleged that their new homes contained latent construction defects and asserted claims against the various parties involved in the construction and sale of the homes, including claims against the defendant subcontractors for breach of the implied warranty of habitability. The plaintiffs contracted with the property developer to purchase the homes, but the plaintiffs had no contractual relationship with the subcontractors involved in the construction of the homes. The Sienna court, overturning the decisions of the trial court and the appellate court, granted the subcontractors’ joint motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims for the implied warranty of habitability because the plaintiffs had no contractual relationship with the subcontractors and the damages were purely economic.
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Michael J. Ciamaichelo, White and Williams LLPMr. Ciamaichelo may be contacted at
ciamaichelom@whiteandwilliams.com
