Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Biden's Next 100 Days: Major Impacts Expected for the Construction Industry

May 10, 2021 — Tom Ichniowski, Pam Radtke Russell & Bruce Buckley - Engineering News-Record
As President Joe Biden’s busy first 100 days in office—which included enactment of a $1.9-trillion pandemic rescue bill and proposals for two other massive measures—wrap up, the months ahead also are expected to generate plenty of legislative and regulatory action with major impact for the construction sector. Reprinted courtesy of Tom Ichniowski, ENR, Pam Radtke Russell, ENR and Bruce Buckley, ENR Mr. Ichniowski may be contacted at ichniowskit@enr.com Ms. Russell may be contacted at Russellp@bnpmedia.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Contractual Indemnification Limitation on Florida Public Projects

July 28, 2016 — David Adelstein – Florida Construction Legal Updates
Construction contract indemnification provisions are governed under Florida Statute s. 725.06. This is a very important statute to know if you are drafting indemnification provisions for any type of construction contract. (There is also Florida Statute s. 725.08 that discusses indemnification provisions applicable to design professionals that is also worth knowing.) Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

Brookfield Wins Disputed Bid to Manage Manhattan Marina

January 28, 2015 — Martin Z Braun – Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Property Partners won a bid to run a marina in New York’s Battery Park City neighborhood over the objections of residents backing a local businessman who operated the facility and a popular sailing club and school. The state’s Battery Park City Authority voted Thursday to approve a 10-year agreement with Brookfield, which owns an adjacent 8 million-square-foot office and retail complex. Brookfield is bringing in billionaire real estate investor Andrew Farkas’s Island Global Yachting to manage the North Cove Marina. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Martin Z Braun, Bloomberg
Mr. Braun may be contacted at mbraun6@bloomberg.net

Wells Fargo Shuns Peers’ Settlement in U.S in Mortgage

May 13, 2014 — Andrew Zajac – Bloomberg
Following two years in which its big-bank peers paid almost $2 billion to resolve fraud accusations by the Federal Housing Administration, Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) has decided it isn’t giving up so easily. Wells Fargo was one of five banks that agreed in 2012 to a nationwide, $25 billion settlement with the Justice Department over mortgage wrongdoing that included botched foreclosures. The FHA then took additional action against four of the banks, including Wells Fargo, for related housing-crisis wrongdoing. Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. decided to settle those matters. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, which argued the nationwide settlement should have blocked the new FHA claims against it, chose to fight. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Andrew Zajac, Bloomberg
Mr. Zajac may be contacted at azajac@bloomberg.net

Supreme Court Finds Insurance Coverage for Intentional (and Despicable) Act of Contractor’s Employee

July 21, 2018 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
Not to cast shade on your fun in the sun, but here’s an unusual, albeit sad and creepy, one for you. I’m bummed even writing about this one. In Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation v. Ledesma & Meyer Construction Company, Inc., Case No. S236765 (June 4, 2018), the California Supreme Court addressed whether a general contractor’s commercial general liability carrier was obligated to defend and whether the carrier was liable for damages sustained by a young girl who was molested by an employee of the general contractor during construction at a school. At issue was whether the policy’s definition of an “occurrence,” which was defined, like most policies, as “an accident,” was triggered by the “intentional” and clearly not accidental act of the general contractor’s employee. 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

Wall Street’s Palm Beach Foray Fuels Developer Office Rush

June 28, 2021 — Natalie Wong - Bloomberg
First came the pandemic migration of New York financiers to West Palm Beach. Now comes the investor rush for offices to accommodate them. With the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management opening outposts in the Florida city, an area once known for snowbirds and retirees has suddenly become hot market for commercial real estate. At the forefront is Manhattan developer Related Cos., which has been accelerating investments in West Palm Beach and now controls about a third of its downtown office stock. It’s a bet that even as Covid restrictions ebb and New York bankers are called back to their office towers, South Florida’s pandemic boom is here to stay. The region, with its relatively lax virus rules, no state income tax and comparatively cheaper homes, last year saw thousands of people flock to enclaves such as West Palm Beach -- a city that for now has just slightly more downtown office space than a single Empire State Building. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Natalie Wong, Bloomberg

Home Buyer Disclosures, What’s Required and What Isn’t

February 05, 2015 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
According to Sandy Gadow of the Washington Post, while all states require a property disclosure statement, “the extent of what must be revealed can vary from state to state, county to county and even city to city.” Gadow stated that while, “Federal law requires certain disclosures, such as the existence of asbestos or lead-based paint in the home or other known health or safety risks. But the enforcement of other disclosures (such as reporting certain environmental conditions pertinent to the area, or the existence of Megan’s Law offenders) will be determined by local ordinance or law.” Gadow recommends home buyers go to their state’s Department of Real Estate to discover the Seller Disclosure requirements. Read the court decision
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Note on First-Party and Third-Party Spoliation of Evidence Claims

October 30, 2018 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
In an earlier posting, I talked about spoliation of evidence. This posting discussed first-party spoliation of evidence which is where a party in a lawsuit has destroyed or lost potentially important documents or evidence. This type of spoliation of evidence does not give rise to an affirmative claim, but could be addressed by the trial court imposing sanctions or giving the devastating adverse inference jury instruction. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

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