Hundreds Celebrated the Grand Opening of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Southern California Riverside Construction Training Center
February 14, 2023 —
Associated Builders and ContractorsRIVERSIDE, Calif., Feb. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today the Associated Builders and Contractors Southern California Chapter (ABC), hosted hundreds of community members as they cut the "ribbon" of their third training center in Southern California.
"Today is a celebration, but it also represents a continued commitment by ABC and our membership to supply a skilled, trained, and safe construction workforce for Southern California," stated Nick McFayden, ABC SoCal's Board Chair.
Jon Krystafik, Vice Chairman of the Training Trust commented, "Our training facility is unique. You may have toured other facilities but with ours you will see we don't just train one craft. Here Apprentices and Craft trainees are receiving cutting edge training in Electrical, Plumbing, Low Voltage and HVAC/Sheet Metal." Krystafik added, "Our trustees had a dream 10 years ago to train residents in the inland empire. Today it is a reality!"
ABC Southern California Chapter is an association of contractors that believe in the Merit Shop Philosophy. Merit shop encourages open competition and a free enterprise approach that awards contracts and employment based solely on merit, safety, quality, and cost, regardless of labor affiliation. The chapter is one of 68 throughout the country and represents nearly 400 member companies.
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Structural Failure of Precast-Concrete Span Sets Back Sydney Metro Job
February 23, 2017 —
Chris Webb - Engineering News-RecordA key component of Australia’s biggest public transport infrastructure project—Sydney’s $6.3-billion Metro North West—is the subject of a
critical and detailed technical report describing how an elevated viaduct span failed at a stitch joint between two precast segments during construction last September. Project officials say the affected span, which did not suffer a progressive collapse, has since been removed and its replacement fast-tracked to avoid further delays. Little additional detail was provided.
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Chris Webb, ENRENR may be contacted at
ENR.com@bnpmedia.com
Treasure Island Sues Beach Trail Designer over Concrete Defects
September 10, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFThe city of Treasure Island, Florida “has filed a lawsuit against Graham Landscape Design of St. Petersburg and Coastal Technology Corp. of Vero Beach for failing to properly design the 1-mile trail along the city's beachfront, which has hundreds of cracks in its concrete surface,” reported the Tampa Bay Times.
"The city has been unable to resolve the construction defects of the Central Beach Trail outside of the litigation process," City Attorney Maura Kiefer said to the Tampa Bay Times.
Cracks allegedly began appearing on the $1.2 million dollar trail soon after the project was concluded (March 2013). Treasure Island “submitted a performance bond claim and notified insurance companies representing Graham Landscape of the problem.”
Consultants hired by Phil Graham IV, the owner of the design company, determined that the cracking was caused by “a combination of problems in the design, construction and composition of materials.”
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ARUP, Rethinking Green Infrastructure
April 08, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFARUP claims to have rethought green infrastructure, according to their website. Their Cities Alive project “shows how the creation of a linked ‘city ecosystem’ that encompasses parks and open spaces; urban trees, streets, squares; woodland and waterways can help create healthier, safer and more prosperous cities.”
“[G]reen is the new gold,” Garrett Marai said on his California Construction Law blog post that discussed the Cities Alive project. “As well as LEED bronze, silver and platinum.”
ARUP is “an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists.”
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Identifying and Accessing Coverage in Complex Construction Claims
September 29, 2021 —
Jeffrey J. Vita & Michael V. Pepe - Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.I. Introduction
First-party, third-party, builder’s risk, professional liability, commercial general liability, wrap-ups, and additional insured status are all potential sources of insurance coverage for a large construction loss. Therefore, it is critical for construction industry participants, from owners and developers to general contractors and their subcontractors, to have a functional knowledge of the different types of insurance coverage available to them and how those coverages intersect to respond to a loss. This paper presents a brief overview of the various types of coverage available to contractors, construction managers, and owners in a large construction loss and the risks each coverage is designed to insure.
In general, there are two forms of coverage: (1) First-party liability coverage, which protects an insured’s own losses on a project during construction; and (2) Third-party liability coverage, which insures the project participants for losses that become the subject of claims or suits brought against the project participants by third parties. When a loss occurs, such as property damage, both types of coverage can be implicated. For example, if a fire burns down a building under construction, the contractor likely would incur first-party losses such as cleanup costs. The contractor may also have third-party exposure if the owner alleges that the contractor was responsible for the fire. On the other hand, when a bodily injury occurs, all losses to the contractor will be third-party losses. A broad overview of each of these policies is provided below.
Reprinted courtesy of
Jeffrey J. Vita, Saxe Doernberger & Vita and
Michael V. Pepe, Saxe Doernberger & Vita
Mr. Vita may be contacted at JVita@sdvlaw.com
Mr. Pepe may be contacted at MPepe@sdvlaw.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 BlogWhether 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
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The Difference Between Routine Document Destruction and Spoliation
October 18, 2021 —
Steven A. Neeley - Construction ExecutiveIn today’s world, there is a tendency to believe that everything must be preserved forever. The common belief is that documents, emails, text messages, etc. cannot be deleted because doing so may be viewed as spoliation (i.e., intentionally destroying relevant evidence). A party guilty of spoliation can be sanctioned, which can include an adverse inference that the lost information would have helped the other side. But that does not mean that contractors have to preserve every conceivable piece of information or data under all circumstances. There are key differences between routine document destruction (when done before receiving notice of potential claims or litigation) and spoliation.
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals decision in Appeal of Sungjee Constr. Co., Ltd., ASBCA Nos. 62002 and 62170 (Mar. 23, 2021) provides a good reminder. There, Sungjee challenged its default termination under a construction contract at Osan Air Base in South Korea. Sungjee argued that the government denied it access to the site for 352 days (out of a 450-day performance period) by refusing to issue passes that were needed to access the base. The government argued that it had issued the passes, but it could not produce them to Sungjee in discovery because they had been destroyed as part of a routine document destruction policy. The base security force issued hard copy passes and entered the information in a biometric system. The government was able to produce the biometric system data but not the hard copy passes because they were destroyed each year.
Sungjee argued the government was guilty of spoliation and moved for sanctions. It asked the Board to draw an adverse inference that the passes would have shown that the government had not issued proper passes on a timely basis, which delayed Sungjee’s performance. The Board denied Sungjee’s motion for several reasons.
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Steven A. Neeley, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
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Mr. Neeley may be contacted at
steve.neeley@huschblackwell.com
Incorrect Information Provided on Insurance Application Defeats Claim for Coverage
July 31, 2024 —
Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law HawaiiThe Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's finding of no duty to defend or indemnify because of an answer on the insured's application for insurance. Snell v. United Specialty Ins. Co., 2024 U.S. App. 12733 (11th Cir. May 28, 2024).
Snell was hired by a family, the Westons, to turn an above ground trampoline into a ground level trampoline. This involved various tasks like tree pruning and removal, installation of shrubs, trees, and sod, and setting up a sprinkler irrigation system. The trampoline aspect of the project involved site work to make a place for the trampoline and assembly and installation of the trampoline. The site work included excavation of a pit, installation of a drain and drainage sand, excavation of a trench to install a drainage pipe, installation of the drainage pipe and of a drain pump, construction of concrete block retainer walls and installation of a wood cap on the retainer walls. Then, Snell unboxed the trampoline, assembled it, and lowered it into the pit.
A few years later, a visitor to the Weston home sued the Westons for injuries to his daughter suffered on the trampoline. The complaint alleged the daughter was injured when she "fell off of the trampoline and struck her face on the wooden board" surrounding the tramline. The complaint was later amended to add Snell as a defendant.
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Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak HastertMr. Eyerly may be contacted at
te@hawaiilawyer.com
