Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Regional US Airports Are Back After Years of Decay

September 23, 2024 — Lebawit Lily Girma - Bloomberg
The ski resorts near Gunnison and Crested Butte, Colorado, are so close to Aspen, you’d think the area wouldn’t need its own airport. Their glitzier neighbor is just 48 miles north as the crow flies, though that’s roughly 150 miles by road. But people flocking to Crested Butte’s laid back town, extreme ski slopes and epic mountain biking have a new reason to bypass farther-away Aspen: the destination’s gleaming new airport, which debuted in January 2023. Not only is the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport terminal easy to get across quickly, at just 40,000 square feet, it's also heated and cooled with geothermal energy and uses triple glazed windows to keep travelers warm in a town known to be one of the coldest places in the US. And Crested Butte isn’t the only small town airport receiving an upgrade. All across the US, at least a dozen small and medium-size facilities are being renovated and, in some cases, entirely rebuilt—typically on budgets that stretch eight and nine figures. That contradicts a long-held belief among aviation industry pros that these regional facilities were destined to gather dust and die out. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Lebawit Lily Girma, Bloomberg

Personal Guarantor Cannot Escape a Personal Guarantee By…

June 02, 2016 — David Adelstein – Florida Construction Legal Updates
In a prior article, I discussed the point that a personal guarantor cannot escape a contractual requirement of a personal guarantee merely by executing the guarantee as a corporate officer. The recent decision Frieri v. Capital Investment Services, Inc., 41 Fla. L. Weekly D1189a (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) illustrates this point. In this case, a company hired an individual to help grow that company’s business. The contract required the individual to invest $6 Million into a trust in consideration of the company’s president transferring substantial shares of the company into the trust. The objective was that the trust would own the controlling shares of the company. The money was transferred. However, the shares were never placed in the trust and the trust never received controlling interest in the company. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David M. Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

Liability Coverage For Construction Claims May Turn On Narrow Factual Distinctions

March 25, 2024 — Scott S. Thomas - Payne & Fears
In a recent trial court decision, a Montana federal court reminds us how fragile insurance coverage can be for construction-related insurance claims. Specifically, this case illustrates how seemingly small factual nuances can make or break coverage. The case turned on the application of policy provisions familiar to all who deal with these kinds of cases. (See Nautilus Ins. Co. v. Farrens, No. CV 22-193-M-DWM, 2024 WL 885109 (D. Mont. Mar. 1, 2024)) First, the court rebuffed the insurer’s argument that damage resulting from defective workmanship (in this case, the flawed design and installation of an elaborate floating-floor pool system) is not “caused by an occurrence.” The court correctly applied the test followed by most states: if either act causing injury is unintentional or the resulting injury is unexpected or unintended, the “occurrence” requirement is met. Fortunately, the court distinguished sloppy language from earlier Montana federal court decisions suggesting otherwise. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Scott S. Thomas, Payne & Fears
Mr. Thomas may be contacted at sst@paynefears.com

Echoes of Shutdown in Delay of Key Building Metric

November 27, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
Among the important measures of the U.S. economy are housing starts and completions. The data on these are collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, which is itself part of the Commerce Department. Due to the October government shutdown, the Census Bureau was unable to complete timely collection of housing starts, among other data collected by the bureau. Estimates of housing permits issued during September and October will be released on November 26. However, the data on housing starts and completions will be delayed until December 18. This report will include September through November. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of

Texas LGI Homes Goes After First-Time Homeowners

May 13, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
According to Big Builder, while many consumers have “gone to rentals…as the homeownership rate fell,” that hasn’t stopped Texas-based builder LGI Homes from marketing to the entry-level buyer: “We do not believe that we’re becoming a renter society,” Eric Lipar, LGI CEO told Big Builder. “We believe there is a need and a desire for homeownership.” “The real growth will be powered by an aggressive sales and marketing operation that aims to pull renters out of their apartments (or single-family rentals) and into LGI homes,” reported Big Builder. “So far this pitch has worked in Texas (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin), in addition to Phoenix and Tampa, Fla.” Read the court decision
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Connecticut Federal District Court Follows Majority Rule on Insurance Policy Anti-Assignment Clauses

March 20, 2023 — Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
A recent decision by the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut further confirms that Connecticut courts follow the majority rule that contractual anti-assignment clauses do not bar assignment of an insured’s claim after the loss occurred.1 The September 2022 decision in Am. Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co. v. 51 Roses Mill LLC arose out of a fire that destroyed a property under contract for sale. At the time of the fire, the property was owned by Bridge33 Capital LLC (“Bridge33”), insured by American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Company (“American Guarantee”), and under contract for sale to 51 Roses Mill LLC (“51 Roses”). After the fire, Bridge33 assigned its insurance claim to 51 Roses. American Guarantee filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment that the assignment was invalid, or that, if it was valid, 51 Roses could only recover under the actual cash value, rather than the replacement cost value, of the lost property. 51 Roses brought counterclaims for breach of contract and bad faith and sought a declaratory judgment that it was entitled to replacement cost value under the policy. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. may be contacted at coverage@sdvlaw.com

Anticipatory Repudiation of a Contract — The Prospective Breach

July 05, 2021 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
There are instances where a party can engage in the anticipatory repudiation of their obligations under a contract. In essence, this is basically a party prospectively breaching the contract by repudiating their obligations in the contract. A prospective breach of contract occurs where there is absolute repudiation by one of the parties prior to the time when his performance is due under the terms of the contract. Such a repudiation may be evidenced by words or voluntary acts but the refusal must be distinct, unequivocal, and absolute. Moreover, repudiation can be shown where one party makes additional demands not included in the initial agreement:

The law is clear that where one party to the contract arbitrarily demands performance not required by the contract and couples this demand with a refusal to further perform unless the demand is met, the party has anticipatorily repudiated the contract, which anticipatory repudiation relieves the non-breaching party of its duty to further perform and creates in it an immediate cause of action for breach of contract. 24 Hr Air Service, Inc. v. Hosanna Community Baptist Church, Inc., 46 Fla. L. Weekly, D1344a (Fla. 3d DCA 2021) (quotations and citations omitted).

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Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

Mountain States Super Lawyers 2019 Recognizes 21 Nevada Snell & Wilmer Attorneys

June 18, 2019 — Snell & Wilmer
Snell & Wilmer is pleased to announce that 21 attorneys from the Nevada offices have been selected for inclusion in the 2019 Mountain States Super Lawyers publication. Of those 21, 12 were recognized as Mountain States Rising Stars. Patrick Byrne was also named to the Top 100 list of attorneys for the Mountain States region. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a listing of lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Snell & Wilmer

FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES