FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Miller Act CLAIMS: Finding Protections and Preserving Your Rights

November 29, 2021 — Diana Lyn Curtis McGraw - ConsensusDocs
The Miller Act (the “Act”), which requires the prime contractor to furnish a performance bond and a payment bond to the government, protects “all persons supplying labor and materials carrying out the work provided for in the contract.”[1] Despite its broad language, courts have limited the parties who may actually assert a claim under the Act. This article introduces general background of the Act, identifies subcontractors who may qualify for protections under the Act, and suggests ways to preserve the rights as prime contractors. Brief Background of the Miller Act Under the Miller Act, there are two types of bonds the prime contractor furnishes to the government in a federal construction contract of more than $100,000[2] 1. Performance Bond A performance bond protects the United States and guarantees the completion of the project in accordance with the contract’s terms and conditions.[3] This bond must be with a surety that is satisfactory to the officer awarding the contract and in the amount the officer considers adequate for government protection.[4] If a contractor abandons a project or fails to perform, the bond itself will cover the government’s cost of substitute performance. Thus, the performance bond disincentivizes contractors from abandoning projects and provides the government with reassurance that an abandonment will not create delays or additional expenses. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Diana Lyn Curtis McGraw, Fox Rothschild LLP
Ms. McGraw may be contacted at dmcgraw@foxrothschild.com

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Pipeline Safety Violations Cause of Explosion that Killed 8

April 02, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
Bloomberg Business Week reported that “PG&E Corp. (PCG:US), owner of California’s largest utility, was charged with 12 pipeline safety violations by the U.S. government for a 2010 natural gas explosion that killed eight people and left a crater the size of a house.” PG&E was charged “with knowingly and willfully violating the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act by failing to test and assess unstable pipelines to determine whether they could fail.” Furthermore, “Federal investigators are studying whether a leaking gas main operated by Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED:US) contributed to an explosion in New York City last month that also claimed eight lives.” Read the court decision
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No Coverage For Wind And Flood Damage Suffered From Superstorm Sandy

July 27, 2020 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The court found that the policy's anti-sequential clause barred coverage for damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Estate of Doerfler v. Fed. Ins. Co., 2020 N.J. Sup. Unpub. LEXIS 920 (May 14, 2020). The insureds held identical homeowners policies from Chubb and Federal Insurance Company. Damage resulting from flood was not covered. The policies' "surface water exclusion" stated,

[W]e do not cover any loss caused by: flood, surface water, waves, tidal water, overflow of water from a body of water . . . or spray from any of these even if driven by wind.

The insureds also had separate flood insurance policies, insuring the structure of each home for $250,000. Superstorm Sandy created wind gusts as high as eighty miles per hour. A severe storm surge caused tides to rise between nine and eleven feet. The storm surge caused surface water to flood onto plaintiffs' properties and their homes ultimately collapsed. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

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Carbon Sequestration Can Combat Global Warming, Sometimes in Unexpected Ways

April 02, 2024 — Michael S. McDonough, Robert A. James & Amanda G. Halter - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
Whether by land, by sea or through human innovation, carbon sequestration is likely coming to (or already happening in) a destination near you. As our planet, overdosed on greenhouse gases, battles climate disasters, a logical solution is to simply stop pumping carbon dioxide into the air. Legislation worldwide is aimed at that target, but reducing output alone may not be enough. There are still billions of tons of extra CO2 already in the atmosphere—this crossroads is where sequestration comes into play. Carbon sequestration is exactly what it sounds like—the storage of CO2. Once carbon is sucked out of the air, or in some cases pulled directly from industrial smokestacks, sequestration can be undertaken in a lot of different ways. Carbon storage happens naturally, when forests and oceans absorb and convert CO2 into organic matter, but carbon dioxide can also be artificially injected into deep underground rock formations (or wells), or in some cases technological approaches repurpose carbon into a resource like concrete, or as a catalyst in a closed-loop industrial system. However it’s accomplished, the point of sequestration is to stabilize carbon and ensure it doesn’t creep back into our atmosphere. Researchers, like those at the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, now say that CO2 removal is vital to keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (past that threshold, climate change could reach catastrophic levels). A 2023 University of Oxford study estimated that, currently, about two billion metric tons of carbon dioxide are being removed each year, primarily through land management (i.e., planting trees), and suggested that we need to double that amount to avoid dangerous global warming levels. Reprinted courtesy of Michael S. McDonough, Pillsbury, Robert A. James, Pillsbury and Amanda G. Halter, Pillsbury Mr. McDonough may be contacted at michael.mcdonough@pillsburylaw.com Mr. James may be contacted at rob.james@pillsburylaw.com Ms. Halter may be contacted at amanda.halter@pillsburylaw.com Read the court decision
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ACEC Research Institute Releases New Engineering Industry Forecast

December 13, 2021 — American Council of Engineering Companies
Washington, DC, Dec. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the ACEC Research Institute released two new reports on the Engineering and Design Services industry: the 2021 Economic Assessment of the Engineering and Design Services Industry and a new Engineering Business Sentiment report for Q4 2021. The data shows the industry has rebounded from project postponements due to COVID, though firms identify a tight labor market and lack of qualified workers as continued barriers to growth across public and private markets. This is the second annual release of the Engineering and Design Services industry assessment, which tracks the industry's economic contributions, analyzes key economic drivers, and forecasts industry growth. Snapshot of the Engineering and Design Services Industry: 1.5 million direct full- and part-time jobs $97,300 average yearly wages $338 billion in industry sales $198 billion direct economic contribution $105 billion collected in total federal, state & local tax Both reports, the 2021 Economic Assessment of the Engineering and Design Services Industry and the Engineering Business Sentiment report for Q4 2021, are available for download by clicking here. ### The ACEC Research Institute is the research arm of the American Council of Engineering Companies – the business association of the nation's engineering industry. The ACEC Research Institute's mission is to deliver knowledge and business strategies that guide and elevate the engineering industry and to be the leading source of knowledge and thought leadership for creating a more sustainable, safe, secure and technically advanced built environment. For more information, go to www.acecresearchinstitute.org. Read the court decision
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In Phoenix, Crews Thread Needle With $730M Broadway Curve Revamp

July 31, 2024 — Scott Blair - Engineering News-Record
Motorists scrambling to dart across three lanes of traffic when merging onto the freeway. Vehicles slowing to a crawl due to extremely curved exit ramps. Commuters enduring agonizing backups as three freeways converge in a tight footprint. Bicyclists and pedestrians sweating through long detours to traverse freeways. Reprinted courtesy of Scott Blair, Engineering News-Record Mr. Blair may be contacted at blairs@enr.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Pennsylvania Reconstruction Project Beset by Problems

October 15, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that “[t]he Penn Avenue reconstruction project in Garfield, described as ‘a comedy of errors’ by one neighborhood leader, remains months behind schedule and has gone well over budget.” The $4.7 million construction budget has increased “by at least $800,000,” according to the Pittsburgh post-Gazette. Problems included the underground utilities not on maps or mapped inaccurately, water lines breaking, and old streetcar tracks were discovered to have contaminated soil. Rick Swartz, executive director of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp., told the Gazette that the project has been “plagued with problems and poor communication from the very start.” Read the court decision
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North Carolina Federal Court Holds “Hazardous Materials” Exclusion Does Not Bar Duty to Defend Under CGL Policy for Bodily Injury Claims Arising Out of Direct Exposure to PFAs

December 07, 2020 — Paul A. Briganti - White and Williams LLP
On October 19, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina held that a “hazardous materials” exclusion contained in a CGL policy did not preclude a duty to defend the insured against claims alleging bodily injury resulting from direct exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which are man-made chemicals within the group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs).[1] In Colony Insurance Company v. Buckeye Fire Equipment Company, the insured was named a defendant in hundreds of underlying suits relating to its manufacture of fire equipment containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), a fire suppressant.[2] The underlying plaintiffs alleged that: (a) the AFFF contained PFOS and PFOA; (b) PFOA and PFOS are highly carcinogenic; and (c) exposure to AFFF contained in the defendants’ products caused bodily injury or property damage. Around a third of the underlying complaints alleged harm from both direct exposure to the foam and exposure through the environment. Representative language from those complaints was: “[d]uring [underlying plaintiff’s] employment as a firefighter and firefighter instructor, he was significantly exposed to elevated levels of PFOS and PFOA in their concentrated form as a result of regular contact with [d]efendant’s AFFF products and through PFOS and PFOA having contaminated the FireCollege well system.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Paul A. Briganti, White and Williams LLP
Mr. Briganti may be contacted at brigantip@whiteandwilliams.com

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