Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

City Sues over Leaking Sewer System

October 25, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
The city of Storm Lake, Iowa completed a $3.6 million sewer project only year ago, but the system is leaking untreated water into residents properties. The Pilot-Tribune reports that “not all the sewage lines broke,” but the city still needed to check the entire system for damage. The Southwest Shoreline Sanitary District has filed a lawsuit against Lessard Contracting, the firm that built the system. Bob Bergendoff, one of the sanitary district trustees said that “the main thing right now is whether the lines are properly installed.” Steve Anderson, another trustee, said that discussions with Lessard are getting “next to nowhere.” Read the court decision
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Court Holds That Self-Insured Retentions Exhaust Vertically And Awards Insured Mandatory Prejudgment Interest in Stringfellow Site Coverage Dispute

October 19, 2017 — Christopher Kendrick & Valerie A. Moore – Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP
In State of California v. Continental Ins. Co. (No. E064518; filed 9/29/17), a California appeals court ruled that after Continental was ultimately held to pay its policy limits for remediation of the Stringfellow hazardous waste site, the insured State of California was entitled to mandatory prejudgment interest on the full amount dating back to 1998, when a federal district court had issued a judgment under F.R.C.P. 54 declaring the State liable under both the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and state law. To get there, the state appeals court held that vertical exhaustion applied to the attachment of Continental’s excess policies. Reprinted courtesy of Christopher Kendrick, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP and Valerie A. Moore, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP Mr. Kendrick may be contacted at ckendrick@hbblaw.com Ms. Moore may be contacted at vmoore@hbblaw.com Read the court decision
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Construction Contracts Need Amending Post COVID-19 Shutdowns

October 19, 2020 — Richard P. Higgins - Construction Executive
No one could have expected the coronavirus pandemic in the beginning of 2020. True, there were rumblings about a sickness in China that was highly contagious and infecting many people. Death tolls began rising as the world watched in disbelieve. After all, this is 2020. This is not supposed to happen. We should have been able to control the spread of the virus, but we could not. COVID-19 quickly spread throughout the world causing havoc and economic despair. While some sectors of the construction industry are not as impacted as others, contractors industry-wide need to consider how COVID-19 will impact their contractual obligations. Depending on what happens and what the government decides to do to stop the spread of the coronavirus, project delays, supply chain distributions, lost productivity and work stoppages may continue for months. All of this will impact the contracts that contractors have with owners. Contractors may not be able to preform according to the terms of the contract through no fault of their own. Owners may no longer qualify for the financing needed to pay for the project. FORCE MAJEURE According to Investopedia, “force majeure refers to a clause that is included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes that interrupt the expected course of events and prevent participants from fulfilling obligations.” Reprinted courtesy of Richard P. Higgins, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the court decision
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Mr. Higgins may be contacted at Richard.Higgins@MCC-CPAs.com

Excess Insurer On The Hook For Cleanup Costs At Seven Industrial Sites

August 28, 2018 — Lorelie S. Masters & Geoffrey B. Fehling - Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog
A New York district court has held that an insurer must provide coverage under three excess insurance policies issued in 1970 for defense and cleanup costs incurred by Olin Corporation in remediating environmental contamination at seven sites in Connecticut, Washington, Maryland, Illinois, New York, and Washington. Seven of the remaining sites at issue presented questions of fact for trial, with only one site being dismissed due to lack of coverage. Reprinted courtesy of Lorelie S. Masters, Hunton Andrews Kurth and Geoffrey B. Fehling, Hunton Andrews Kurth Ms. Masters may be contacted at lmasters@HuntonAK.com Mr. Fehling may be contacted at gfehling@HuntonAK.com Read the court decision
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Bert Hummel Appointed Vice Chair of State Bar of Georgia Bench & Bar Committee

October 24, 2021 — Bert Hummel - Lewis Brisbois
Atlanta, Ga. (October 4, 2021) – Atlanta Partner Bert Hummel was recently named Vice Chair of the State Bar of Georgia's Bench & Bar Committee for the 2021-2022 year. The Bench & Bar Committee identifies and facilitates solutions to issues of mutual interest between State judges and Georgia lawyers for the benefit of the bench, the bar and the public. It also oversees the annual Justice Thomas O. Marshall Professionalism Award, which honors one lawyer and one judge who have demonstrated the highest professional conduct and paramount reputation for professionalism. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Bert Hummel, Lewis Brisbois
Mr. Hummel may be contacted at Bert.Hummel@lewisbrisbois.com

NYC’s Next Hot Neighborhoods Targeted With Property Funds

August 20, 2014 — Jonathan LaMantia – Bloomberg
New York’s real estate world is filled with tales of ordinary people who bought property decades ago and saw values skyrocket to the millions. Seth Weissman is seeking investors to get in early on the next hot neighborhoods. The veteran of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and hedge fund Perry Capital LLC started CityShares, which enables participants to reap rewards from increasing apartment demand in gentrifying areas. Investors who pledge at least $100,000 to one of the program’s neighborhood-focused funds become partial owners of a group of buildings and share in the rental income. The first pool is more than halfway toward its target of $5 million, which will be used to buy properties in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant. Harlem in upper Manhattan is next, with a goal of as much as $20 million. Additional funds are planned for Bushwick, Crown Heights and Sunset Park, all in Brooklyn. Renters are pushing into those more-distant areas after getting squeezed out of the borough’s waterfront communities, where leasing costs rival Manhattan’s. CityShares is the first program of its kind and offers a way to invest in burgeoning markets that are poised to grow as New York’s workforce expands, Weissman said. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Jonathan LaMantia, Bloomberg
Mr. Lamantia may be contacted at jlamantia1@bloomberg.net

If You Can’t Dazzle Em’ With Brilliance, Baffle Em’ With BS: Apprentices on Public Works Projects

October 24, 2023 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
The “Big Four” when it comes to public works contracting on state and local projects in California are:

Registration with the California Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”);
Payment of prevailing of wages and maintenance and submission of certified payroll;
Compliance with the “skilled and trained workforce” requirements on certain projects; and
Hiring apprentices on state and local public works projects with a value of $30,000 or more.

The next case, GRFCO, Inc. v. Superior Court, 89 Cal.App.5th 1295 (2023), discusses the last of these requirements. The case also reminded me of W.C. Field’s old saying – “If you can’t dazzle em’ with brilliance, baffle em’ with bullshit” – and which ended with expected results. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

Hong Kong Property Tycoon Makes $533 Million Bet on Solar

April 02, 2014 — Ehren Goossens and Benjamin Haas - Bloomberg News
A Hong Kong real-estate tycoon has spent the past year accumulating stakes in failing solar companies, piecing together what may become the biggest collection of photovoltaic factories in the world. Zheng Jianming, also known in Cantonese as Cheng Kin Ming, has spent or pledged about $533 million to buy assets that at their peak were worth almost $20 billion, according to regulatory filings in the U.S. and Hong Kong, where he has a home and office. The transactions, if completed, would transform Zheng, a newcomer to the solar industry, into one of its most powerful leaders. Another Zheng solar investment in 2012, a 30 percent stake in Shunfeng Photovoltaic International Ltd. (1165), has surged more than 2,900 percent and is now worth more than $745 million. Mr. Goossens may be contacted at egoossens1@bloomberg.net; Mr. Haas may be contacted at bhaas7@bloomberg.net Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Ehren Goossens and Benjamin Haas, Bloomberg News

FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES