Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert Directory

Remote Trials Can Control Prejudgment Risk

September 07, 2020 — Robert G. Devine, Victor J. Zarrilli & Kimberly M. Collins - White and Williams LLP
While courts across the country are largely unavailable to litigants demanding a jury trial, pre-judgment interest rules present an increasing penalty risk to a defendant wanting its day in court and may not always make a plaintiff whole. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the manner in which people and industries operate across the board. In light of the need to maintain social distancing whenever possible, the use of technology to replace in-person appearances is becoming more commonplace. As more attorneys become comfortable with the remote platform, the willingness to consider a remote trial grows. With in-person jury trials suspended until further notice, it is important for attorneys and parties to consider the attendant consequences of the indefinite delay in waiting for a traditional jury trial. Aside from general inconvenience, continued delays may have a substantial financial impact, particularly with regard to the accumulation of pre-judgment interest. Reprinted courtesy of White and Williams LLP attorneys Robert G. Devine, Victor J. Zarrilli and Kimberly M. Collins Mr. Devine may be contacted at deviner@whiteandwilliams.com Mr. Zarrilli may be contacted at zarrilliv@whiteandwilliams.com Ms. Collins may be contacted at collinsk@whiteandwilliams.com Read the court decision
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Federal Judge Dismisses Insurance Coverage Lawsuit In Construction Defect Case

December 09, 2011 — CDJ STAFF

A federal judge dismissed a coverage lawsuit brought by Mid Continent Casualty Company against its insured, Greater Midwest Builders Ltd.

Plaintiff brought this declaratory judgment action in response to a suit filed in Johnson County District Court, seeking a judicial determination that it had no coverage obligation for claims asserted against its insured. This case was stayed until the state court action entered judgment against the insured. The prevailing parties then commenced a garnishment action against the plaintiff, and another insurance company, in state court in Missouri. The court was asked whether it should lift the stay and proceed with the case, or decline jurisdiction in favor of resolution in the Missouri state court.

The court granted the motion to dismiss holding that proceeding with the case would lead to protracted, piecemeal litigation, while deferring to the Missouri state court would decide all the claims involved in the dispute.

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Former UN General Assembly President Charged in Bribe Scheme

October 21, 2015 — Patricia Hurtado & Greg Farrell – Bloomberg
A former president of the United Nations General Assembly and a billionaire Macau developer were accused of taking part in a four-year corruption scheme that included bribes to help fund a campaign for the post at the organization in exchange for the promotion of Chinese businesses. John Ashe, president of the UN General Assembly from September 2013 to September 2014, accepted more than $1 million in payoffs from developer Ng Lap Seng and an associate to help persuade the international body to build a multibillion-dollar conference center in Macau and promote Chinese businesses, including a bank, in Antigua, according to the U.S. The new charges, announced Tuesday, relate to an earlier case against Ng, 68, who has a personal net worth of about $1.8 billion. He’s been held in a federal jail in Manhattan since he was arrested Sept. 19, accused of bringing $4.5 million into the country and lying about its purpose to U.S. authorities. Reprinted courtesy of Patricia Hurtado, Bloomberg and Greg Farrell, Bloomberg Read the court decision
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Rainwater Collecting on Rooftop is not Subject to Policy's Flood Sublimits

October 15, 2024 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
Responding to a certified question from the First Circuit, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts determined that rainwater collecting on the insureds' rooftop and causing interior damage was not "flood" as defined in the policy and subject to sublimits. Zurich Am. Ins. Co. v. Medical Properties Trust, Inc., 2024 Mass. LEXIS ___ (Mass. July 23, 2024). A severe thunderstorm caused heavy rain and strong winds which damaged a hospital. The hospital was owned by Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPT) and leased to Steward Health Care System LLC (Steward). Ground water accumulated and flooded the basement. Rainwater also accumulated on the hospital's parapet roofs and on the second-story courtyard, and eventually seeped through the parapet roofs and courtyard to the hospital's upper floors, causing damage to the building and property within. 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

Bad Welds Doom Art Installation at Central Park

October 30, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
Last year, the sculpture “How I Roll” was supposed to be doing its rolling at Central Park from June through August of last year, but the exhibit was taken down a month early, over concerns that the welding had rendered the moving piece “structurally unsound and unsafe.” Now the Public Art Fund is suing the company hired to do the welding. Titon Builders of Lake Park, Florida was supposed to do the welding, but they subcontracted the work to Tru-Steel Corp. of Fort Pierce, Florida. The Public Art Fund is claiming that Titon’s contract obligated them to do the fabrication, not subcontract it. Jeffrey Klein, a lawyer for the Public Art Fund, said, “it’s sad that it had to be taken down because of shoddy workmanship.” Read the court decision
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Hiring Subcontractors with Workers Compensation Insurance

January 10, 2018 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
You want to hear more on the POWER of statutory workers compensation immunity? Well, here it is, because as I have mentioned in the past, workers compensation immunity is powerful reinforcing the importance for contractors to ensure the subcontractors they hire absolutely have workers compensation insurance. Likewise, subcontractors want to ensure the subcontractors they hire also have workers compensation insurance. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Florida Construction Legal Updates
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dadelstein@gmail.com

CDJ’s #10 Topic of the Year: Transport Insurance Company v. Superior Court (2014) 222 Cal.App.4th 1216.

December 31, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
Richard H. Glucksman, Jon Turigliatto, and Kacey R. Riccomini of Chapman Glucksman Dean Roeb & Barger analyzed Transport and wrote, “The decision is an important tool for builders’ counsel because the builder’s reasonable expectations can alter the interpretation of ambiguous terms in policies issued to subcontractors. Essentially, the builder’s intent is relevant to the interpretation of policy terms because the subcontractor’s intent in requesting additional coverage depends on the agreement it made with the builder.” Read the court decision
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Court Calls Lease-Leaseback Project What it is: A Design-Bid-Build Project

August 19, 2015 — Garret Murai – California Construction Law Blog
First there was “Prince.” Then there was “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” Then there was “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (Because he Changed His Name to a Symbol), But Then Realized That No One Could Pronounce the Symbol (and What Good is a Symbol if Everyone Has to Wave Their Hands Wildly at You to Get Your Attention or Scream ‘Hey You!’), and So Changed His Name Back to Prince Again.” Whatever name (or symbol) he was going by, everyone knew him as the guy who told us to party like it was 1999 (when 1999 still seemed like the distant future), who sang about a girl with a “pocket full of horses” (which totally flew past my junior high school brain at the time), and gave us such great metaphors as “if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy, punch a higher floor!” Like Prince or his symbol, sometimes it doesn’t matter what label you put on something when everyone knows what that something is. In law, we call it looking at the “substance” rather than its “form.” And, in the next case, Davis v. Fresno Unified School District, the California Court of Appeals for the Fifth District made quick work of a purported “lease-leaseback” project – a project delivery method available to school districts whereby a school district leases property it owns to a developer for a minimum of $1, who in turns builds a school facility on the site and leases the facility and the site back to the school district, who in turn takes ownership of the facility and site at the end of the lease – and called it for what it was: a run-of-the-mill “design-bid-build” project. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@wendel.com

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