Insurers May Not Be Required to Defend Contractors In a Florida §558 Proceeding
November 06, 2018 —
Erik Simpson - Gordon & Rees Construction Law BlogIn recent holding, the Florida Supreme Court held that an insurer may not have a duty to defend a contractor in a Florida §558 proceeding.
Chapter 558 of the Florida Statutes sets forth procedural requirements which must be met before a claimant may file a construction defect action. These requirements include serving a contractor, subcontractor or supplier with written notice of the claim. The contractor, in turn, must serve a written response to the notice of claim in which the contractor provides either an offer to repair the alleged construction defect at no cost to the claimant, resolution of the claim through a monetary payment, a statement disputing the claim, or a statement that any monetary payment will be determined by the recipient’s insurer. The claimant may file suit if the contractor disputes the claim and refuses to remedy the alleged defect or provide monetary compensation.
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Erik Simpson, Gordon & ReesMr. Simpson may be contacted at
esimpson@grsm.com
Builders Association Seeks to Cut Down Grassroots Green Building Program (Guest Post)
October 04, 2021 —
Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law MusingsFor this week’s year end Guest Post Friday here at Musings, we welcome Michael Anschel. Michael is the owner of Otogawa-Anschel Design-Build, a member of BATC, lead the development of and serves as a board member to MN GreenStar, the CEO of Verified Green, Inc., and writes the green blog for Remodeling Magazine Online.
If you have been following the sad state of affairs in Minnesota recently (no not the elections) you might be scratching a bald spot on your head in amazement. To my knowledge it is the only state in which the local builders association [ www.batconline.org ] has actually sued the local Green building program (MN GreenStar [ www.mngreenstar.org ]; going as far as filing a restraining order to keep them from certifying any new homes in the state.
This is, in my opinion, a tragic move in the wrong direction for everyone; builders and homeowners alike.
The builders group widely know for The Parade of Homes claims to have no interest in using the program or the brand MN GreenStar, so why seek to shut the program down? Even the lawyers have been scratching their heads trying to make sense of this bizarre and highly aggressive move. And things just get more bizarre from there.
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The Law Office of Christopher G. HillMr. Hill may be contacted at
chrisghill@constructionlawva.com
Not so Fast! How Does Revoking Acceleration of a Note Impact the Statute of Limitations?
July 30, 2018 —
Ben Reeves - Snell & Wilmer Real Estate Litigation BlogIntroduction
Lenders routinely accelerate notes after a default occurs, calling the entire loan due immediately. Less regularly, a lender may change its mind and unilaterally revoke the acceleration. Rarely, however, does a lender fail to foreclose on its real property collateral before the statute of limitations expires. In Andra R. Miller Designs, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 244 Ariz. 265, 418 P.3d 1038 (Ct. App. 2018), a unique set of facts involving these issues led the Arizona Court of Appeals to hold that proper revocation of acceleration resets the statute of limitations.
The Facts
In Miller, a lender made a $1,940,000 loan evidenced by a promissory note and secured by a deed of trust against a home in Paradise Valley, Arizona. The borrower defaulted in September 2008. The default prompted the lender to notice a default, accelerate the note, and initiate a trustee’s sale of the home in 2009. After the lender accelerated the note, the six year statute of limitations began to run. See A.R.S. § 12-548(A)(1) and A.R.S. § 33-816. Pretty standard facts so far, right? Don’t worry, it gets a bit more convoluted.
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Ben Reeves, Snell & WilmerMr. Reeves may be contacted at
breeves@swlaw.com
Buffett’s $11 Million Beach House Is Still on the Market
February 28, 2018 —
Noah Buhayar – BloombergWarren Buffett auctions a lunch date for charity every year, and the winning bid usually stretches to seven figures. He twice sold his used cars to fans for multiples of their Kelly Blue Book value. Someone once even paid more than $200,000 to purchase his old wallet. (It had a stock tip inside.) For those who venerate one of the world’s best investors, money is usually no object when buying a piece of the legend.
A year ago, Buffett put his vacation home in Emerald Bay, a gated enclave next to Laguna Beach, Calif., up for sale. He bought the property in 1971 at the urging of his first wife, Susan, for $150,000—the equivalent of a bit less than $1 million today. At the time, he didn’t think of it much as an investment, he told the Wall Street Journal last year. Laguna was less developed back then, more surfer-and-hippie paradise than multimillionaire’s haunt. The couple and their family often spent summers at the home, as well as time around Christmas, when Buffett would hole up in the master bedroom working on his closely followed
annual letter to
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders.
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Noah Buhayar, Bloomberg
Another Defect Found on the Bay Bridge: Water Leakage
February 11, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFAccording to the San Francisco Chronicle, the eastern span of the Bay Bridge has dealt with alleged “defective welds” and “cracked steel rods,” and now there are reports of leakage. The Chronicle stated that rainwater “is dripping into the steel structure beneath the road deck on the suspension stretch of the span, which,” according to Caltrans “is supposed to be watertight.”
Water corrosion on a bridge could cost $6.4 billion, the San Francisco Chronicle claimed. Caltrans said that they “are going to have teams of engineers and inspectors there this weekend to assess the problem.”
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Renovate or Demolish Milwaukee’s Historic City Hall?
July 02, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFMilwaukee, Wisconsin’s City Hall, which according to the New York Times is “one the largest of its kind in the country,” is “slowly sinking.” However, residents are debating whether it is worth the millions to renovate—especially considering that despite $76 million spent in 2006 to restore the building’s exterior, a terra cotta urn fell into the street in 2011 resulting in a lawsuit against the contractor.
The main problem with the building is that “old wooden pilings that support the base of City Hall, timbers anchored deep into the marshy soil more than a hundred years ago, are decaying,” the New York Times reported. “So far, the northeast corner of the aging structure has ‘settled’ 2.16 inches over the past three decades — a small change, but serious enough to raise concerns about the possibility of more structural problems.”
However, proponents of renovation mention the building’s rich history. In 1895 when the City Hall was built, it was “the third-tallest structure in the country at the time, behind the Philadelphia City Hall and the Washington Monument.” The German Renaissance Revival building features a 400-foot clock tower, which “is most fondly remembered for its role in the opening credits of the sitcom ‘Laverne & Shirley.’”
“Buildings like this are salvageable,” Dennis Barthenheier, a contractor who has used concrete to reinforce the pilings of nearly two dozen sinking structures in downtown Milwaukee, told the New York Times. “But it’s not a cheap date.”
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A Court-Side Seat: Butterflies, Salt Marshes and Methane All Around
November 16, 2020 —
Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2GavelOur latest summary of some recent developments in the courts and the federal agencies includes a unique case involving salt marshes adjacent to San Francisco Bay.
THE FEDERAL COURTS
A Wolf Among the Butterflies
On October 13, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided the case of North American Butterfly Association v. Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The National Butterfly Center is a 100-acre wildlife sanctuary located in Texas along the border between the United States and Mexico, and in 2017, the DHS exerted control over a segment of the sanctuary to construct facilities to impede unauthorized entry into the United States. It was alleged that the government failed to provide advance notice to the sanctuary before it entered the sanctuary to build its facilities. The Association filed a lawsuit to halt these actions for several reasons, including constitutional claims and two federal environmental laws (NEPA and the Endangered Species Act), but the lower court dismissed the lawsuit because of the provisions of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). That law forecloses the applicability of these laws if the Secretary of DHS issues appropriate declaration. On appeal, the DC Circuit held, in a 2 to 1 decision, that the lawsuit should not have been dismissed. The plaintiffs had standing to file this lawsuit, but the jurisdiction stripping provisions of the IIRIRA, when invoked, required that the statutory claims be dismissed as well as a constitutional Fourth Amendment search and seizure claim. However, the plaintiff’s Fifth Amendment claim that the government’s actions violated their right to procedural due process must be reviewed. The Center was given no notice of the government’s claims and no opportunity to be heard before these actions were taken. The dissenting judge argued that the court was being asked to review a non-final decision, which it should not do.
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Anthony B. Cavender, PillsburyMr. Cavender may be contacted at
anthony.cavender@pillsburylaw.com
Smart Contracts Poised to Impact the Future of Construction
November 12, 2019 —
Frederick D. Cruz and Seth Wamelink - Construction ExecutiveIn August 2018, the State of Ohio passed legislation making it easier for businesses in Ohio, including the construction industry, to use blockchain technology in business transactions, which can result in significant savings and increased efficiency if used correctly. Specifically, Senate Bill 220 amends the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Ohio Rev. Code. 1306.01, et seq.) and ensures that records (or signatures) secured through blockchain are legally binding. With the enactment of this bill, Ohio has joined several other states to allow their businesses to take advantage of this budding technology. While the implications of this enactment are widespread, the use of “smart contracts” utilizing blockchain technology is particularly helpful in the construction industry to streamline certain processes and increase efficiency.
What is Blockchain?
While blockchain technology is most commonly associated with cryptocurrency (e.g., Bitcoin), the technology has far greater applications as it can be used to “eliminate the middle-man” in a variety of transactions across a broad spectrum of industries. At its core, blockchain is a decentralized ledger that allows transacting parties to interact directly (i.e., peer-to-peer) in a secure manner. Essentially, the blockchain “ledger” is where users record transactions. These transactions are then verified, viewed, and shared with others in the network. The information is stored across a peer network and allows for approved users to view the data simultaneously. It is often analogized to using GoogleDocs, where multiple people can access and edit the same document simultaneously. While that is an easy comparison, blockchain itself is a bit more complex.
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Frederick D. Cruz & Seth Wamelink, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
Mr. Cruz may be contacted at frederick.cruz@tuckerellis.com
Mr. Wamelink may be contacted at seth.wamelink@tuckerellis.com
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