Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert Directory

Developer Transition – Washington DC Condominiums

June 29, 2017 — Nicholas D. Cowie - Maryland Condo Construction Defect Law Blog
Developer transition is the process by which governance over a condominium unit owners’ association (“condominium association”) is transferred from condominium developer to unit owner control. Below is an overview of the legal requirements in the District of Columbia that govern this transition process as well as a “transition checklist” for unit owner-elected boards of directors that have recently transitioned from developer control. TRANSITION LAW OVERVIEW PERIOD OF DEVELOPER CONTROL A developer initially controls a condominium association because it owns all unsold units in the newly created condominium. As such, the condominium developer has the controlling votes associated with majority ownership and can appoint its own employees as the initial members of the board of directors and thereby control how the association conducts its affairs. This is referred to as the “period of developer control,” during which the condominium developer makes all decisions on behalf of the condominium association. The developer also creates a condominium association’s governing documents allowing it to dictate, subject to applicable law, the procedures and time periods under which control over the association’s board of directors is ultimately transferred to the unit owners. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Nicholas D. Cowie, Cowie & Mott, P.A.
Mr. Cowie may be contacted at ndc@cowiemott.com

FEMA, Congress Eye Pre-Disaster Funding, Projects

November 08, 2017 — Pam Radtke Russell - Engineering News-Record
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long wants to revamp the way federal disaster funds are distributed, putting a greater emphasis on building more-resilient structures and communities before disasters strike, Long told a House panel reviewing federal response to the recent slate of disasters. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Pam Radtke Russell, ENR
Ms. Russell may be contacted at Russellp@bnpmedia.com

Circuit Court Lacks Appellate Jurisdiction Over Order Compelling Appraisal

August 21, 2023 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The Eleventh Circuit determined it lacked appellate jurisdiction over an order issued by the district court compelling an appraisal. Breakwater Commons Association, Inc. v. Empire Indem. Ins. Co., 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 14459 (11th Cir. June 9, 2023). Following Hurricane Irma, Breakwater Commons Association filed a claim with Empire Indemnity Insurance Company for property damage. Empire agreed to cover some of the damage to buildings, but a dispute arose over the amount of loss. Breakwater sought to invoke the appraisal provision in the policy. Empire refused to engage in an appraisal. Breakwater sued, and filed a motion to compel appraisal and to stay the proceedings pending the completion of the appraisal process. 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

American Council of Engineering Companies of California Selects New Director

January 22, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
Brad Diede has been selected as the new executive director of the American Council of Engineering Companies of California, according to GlobeSt.com. “ACEC California is dedicated to strengthening the engineering and surveying professions, protecting the general public and promoting the use of the private sector in building a better California.” Paul Meyer is retiring after 32 years as the executive director. Diede brings over ten years’ experience as executive director of the California Professional Association of Specialty Contractors. He will begin work at ACEC California January 27th. Read the court decision
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New Jersey Law regarding Prior Expert’s Testimony

April 15, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
Mary Pat Gallagher writing for the New Jersey Law Journal reported that “[l]awyers who track down an opposing expert's testimony from prior cases must disclose that fact during discovery but need not say whether they plan to use it in cross-examining the expert at trial, a New Jersey appeals court says.” In Dalton v. Crawley, the Appellate Division held that “[d]ecisions about cross-examination ‘involve the attorney's mental processes, so they are inherently work product.’” The issue began when “one of the defense lawyers, Michael McGann, figured out from the deposition questions Mahoney directed at one of his experts that he had transcripts of testimony from earlier cases,” according to the New Jersey Law Journal. “Hit with a notice to produce the transcripts, [Plaintiff attorney Brian] Mahoney refused, saying they were ‘attorney work product and we will not be telling you what we have developed regarding this expert.’" The New Jersey Law Journal declared that the “ruling means both sides will have to indicate what transcripts they have gathered for use—giving the name of each expert as well as the name and docket number of the prior cases where those experts testified. “ Read the court decision
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Tetra Tech-U.S. Cleanup Dispute in San Francisco Grows

July 15, 2019 — Mary B. Powers - Engineering News-Record
The U.S. Justice Dept. and consultant Tetra Tech are ramping up a battle over alleged false claims for payment the firm submitted to the U.S. Navy under $261 million in contracts for radiological tests and cleanup at San Francisco’s former Hunters Point base, a Superfund site being developed for up to 12,000 residential units. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Mary B. Powers, ENR
ENR may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com

Substitutions On a Construction Project — A Specification Writer Responds

July 03, 2022 — Melissa Dewey Brumback - Construction Law in North Carolina
In response to the post about Substitute Materials on a construction project, Phil Kabza explains how his company, SpecGuy, handles tracking of all such materials on a project. Phil writes: Excellent and important topic, about which there is much confusion among design professionals and contractors. We try to maintain definitions for:

Pre-bid requests for prior approval of proposed comparable products where products are named in the specifications
True pre-bid substitution requests that present an alternate type of product from that specified (ie., not “comparable” but perhaps suitable)

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Melissa Dewey Brumback, Ragsdale Liggett

mbrumback@rl-law.com