Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

What ‘The Curse’ Gets Wrong About Passive House Architecture

April 02, 2024 — Teresa Xie - Bloomberg
In the fifth episode of Showtime’s The Curse, two potential buyers are touring a boutique house in Española, a soon-to-be gentrified Santa Fe neighborhood when one of them makes a remark about the temperature. “Sorry, can I get a water? It’s just really hot in here,” he says, airing out his sweat-stained shirt. The quirky home’s architect-slash-developer, played by Emma Stone, says, “Sure!” and without skipping a beat, continues to explain the virtues of her passive house design: The home functions like a thermos, with no need for air conditioning — unless any air escapes the house. Then it takes five to seven hours for the room to recover. Owning a passive house sounds like a nightmare, right? If you’re buying a one-of-a-kind, mirror-clad spec house from Stone and co-star Nathan Fielder, it may well be. On The Curse, the two play a do-gooder couple attempting to make an HGTV series (with Benny Safdie) about turning regular houses into carbon-neutral passive homes. Odd things happen to Stone and Fielder over the show’s first season: trouble with the laws of gravity, the trials of a failing marriage and a literal curse from a small child. But the weirdest might be the show’s portrayal of passive house design, an energy-efficient design standard that has been around since the 1970s. Passive building, which has its origins in Europe, relies on advanced construction methods to seal a structure in an airtight envelope, thereby reducing energy consumption for heating and cooling by as much as 75%. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Teresa Xie, Bloomberg

Spencer Mayer Receives Miami-Dade Bar Association's '40 Under 40' Award

March 04, 2024 — Lewis Brisbois Newsroom
Miami, Fla. (February 23, 2024) – Miami Associate Spencer Mayer received the 2024 Miami-Dade Bar Association Young Lawyers Section’s '40 under 40' Award at the association's annual "Miami Nights" event on February 22. Mr. Mayer serves on the Board of Directors of the Miami Dade Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section. Lewis Brisbois was a proud sponsor of this event, which raised funds for the organization's community service initiatives and pro bono programming. Mr. Mayer is a member of the General Liability Practice. His practice focuses on all aspects of civil litigation, including complex commercial litigation, products liability, premises liability, wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and insurance coverage. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

State of Texas’ Claims Time Barred by 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act

June 13, 2018 — Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
On June 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided the case of State of Texas v. U.S., et al. The Court of Appeals held that the petition for mandamus filed by the State of Texas essentially seeking to compel the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to establish a schedule for the operation of the Yucca Mountain, NV nuclear waste depository was untimely filed. The depository is very controversial in Nevada, and as a consequence, none of the many deadlines established by Congress have been met. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Anthony B. Cavender, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Mr. Cavender may be contacted at anthony.cavender@pillsburylaw.com

ACS Obtains Overwhelming Jury Trial Victory for General Contractor Client

March 28, 2022 — Scott R. Sleight - Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
ACS is pleased to share news of our recent $19.2 million victory for a general contractor client after a lengthy virtual jury trial involving the Nexus condominium project in downtown Seattle. On Tuesday March 22, 2022, ACS obtained a jury verdict awarding significant damages to our general contractor client and denying nearly all damages claimed against our client by the project owner. The 28-day jury trial commenced via Zoom on January 24 and involved testimony from more than two dozen witnesses on more than 185 discrete change issues and subcontractor pass-through claims as well as counterclaims from the owner for liquidated damages and other damages. Amazingly, after only two days of deliberating the jury reached a verdict resolving all claims overwhelmingly in favor of our general contractor client. Our client was awarded $19.5 million on its claims totaling $20.6 million and largely defeated the owner’s counterclaims of $4.3 million, with the jury awarding only $318,000 to the owner. This results in a net judgment of $19.2 million in favor of our client. The ACS team, along with the client, worked incredibly hard on this case. The team includes lawyers Scott Sleight, Saki Yamada, Kristina Southwell, Cam Sheldon and paralegals Christina Granquist, Cydney Fermstad, Auzree Hightower, Amy Capell, Samina Helsley and Bernadette Bresee. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Scott R. Sleight, Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
Mr. Sleight may be contacted at scott.sleight@acslawyers.com

The Secret to an OSHA Inspection

December 02, 2015 — Craig Martin – Construction Contractor Advisor
Wouldn’t it be nice to know ahead of time what an OSHA inspector will be looking for when he comes to your work site? Well, I know the secret. And, it’s not really a secret. Just look at OSHA’s top ten citation standards and it becomes quite clear. In 2015, OSHA’s top ten most frequently cited violations are:

1. Fall protection (C) 2. Hazard communication 3. Scaffolding (C)

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Reprinted courtesy of Craig Martin, Lamson, Dugan and Murray, LLP
Mr. Martin may be contacted at cmartin@ldmlaw.com

Residential Contractors, Be Sure to Have these Clauses in Your Contracts

December 23, 2023 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
I have often “mused” on the need to have a good solid construction contract at the beginning of a project. While this is always true, it is particularly true in residential contracting where a homeowner may or may not know the construction process or have experience with large scale construction. Often you, as a construction general contractor, are providing the first large scale construction that the homeowner has experienced. For this reason, through meetings and the construction contract, setting expectations early and often is key. As a side note to this need to set expectations, the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) and the Virginia General Assembly require certain clauses to be in every residential construction contract. DPOR strictly enforces these contractual items and failure to put them in your contracts can lead to fines, penalties and possibly even revocation of a contractor’s license. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Ohio Court Refuses to Annualize Multi-Year Policies’ Per Occurrence Limits

June 19, 2023 — Patricia Santelle, Adam Berardi & Lynndon Groff - White and Williams LLP
White and Williams recently obtained summary judgment against an insured on behalf of an insurer and a guarantor, establishing that two multi-year insurance policies provide per occurrence limits on a per policy rather than a per year basis, which shielded potential exposure by over $100 million. The insured had previously sought and obtained coverage under two policies in connection with a single occurrence arising out of massive environmental contamination claims involving a large industrial site. The issue of whether the policies provide per occurrence limits on a policy term or annual basis was not resolved in this earlier litigation. The first policy was effective for three years and provides per occurrence limits of $40 million. The second policy was effective for up to three years and provides per occurrence limits of $15 million. Reprinted courtesy of Patricia Santelle, White and Williams LLP, Adam Berardi, White and Williams LLP and Lynndon Groff, White and Williams LLP Ms. Santelle may be contacted at santellep@whiteandwilliams.com Mr. Berardi may be contacted at berardia@whiteandwilliams.com Mr. Groff may be contacted at groffl@whiteandwilliams.com Read the court decision
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Critical Materials for the Energy Transition: Of “Rare Earths” and Even Rarer Minerals

September 12, 2022 — Robert A. James, Ashleigh Myers, Shellka Arora-Cox & Amanda G. Halter - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
As the world pursues ambitious net-zero carbon emission goals, demand is soaring for the critical materials required for the technologies leading the energy transition. Lithium may be the most well-known of these inputs due to its usage in batteries for vehicles and consumer electronics, but roughly 50 other minerals are central to energy transition technologies. During the coming years, producers, manufacturers and end-users will be increasingly exposed to the roles played by “rare earth” elements (roughly, atomic numbers 57 to 71), platinum group metals, and other materials. The reasons for this heightened interest are simple—even if the underlying environmental, political and technological forces at play are complex:

Lower-carbon technologies use different materials than carbon-intensive technologies. The mineral requirements of power and mobility systems driven by renewable, nuclear, hydrogen and fusion energy are profoundly different from those forming the backbone of fossil fuel systems. Minerals such as lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt, and rare earth elements are vital for electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, fuel cells, electricity grids, wind turbines, smart devices, and many other essential and proliferating civilian and military technologies. For example, an offshore wind plant needs 13 times more mineral resources than a gas power plant of a similar size.

Reprinted courtesy of Robert A. James, Pillsbury, Ashleigh Myers, Pillsbury, Shellka Arora-Cox, Pillsbury and Amanda G. Halter, Pillsbury Mr. James may be contacted at rob.james@pillsburylaw.com Ms. Myers may be contacted at ashleigh.myers@pillsburylaw.com Ms. Arora-Cox may be contacted at shellka.aroracox@pillsburylaw.com Ms. Halter may be contacted at amanda.halter@pillsburylaw.com Read the court decision
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FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES