San Diego’s NFL Stadium Dream Counts on Munis for Chargers’ Home
June 10, 2015 —
James Nash and Darrell Preston – BloombergSan Diego, still dealing with the legacy of a pension crisis that led politicians to consider bankruptcy a decade ago, may throw taxpayer money behind municipal bonds for a football-stadium bidding war.
The city and the National Football League’s Chargers are negotiating on a proposed $1.3 billion coliseum to keep the team from leaving for Los Angeles. A plan backed by a city panel would have San Diego pay $121 million of the new stadium’s debt, even though it still owes $52 million for the Chargers’ current home. San Diego County would chip in, too.
The quest to keep the team has triggered a debate over whether to finance professional football as the city deals with $2 billion of deferred maintenance brought about in part by mounting pension costs. The city’s retirement system has a shortfall just as large, which led voters three years ago to approve reducing benefits for city workers.
Reprinted courtesy of
James Nash, Bloomberg and
Darrell Preston, Bloomberg Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
ASCE Joins White House Summit on Building Climate-Resilient Communities
October 09, 2023 —
The American Society of Civil EngineersRESTON, Va. – The White House Climate Policy Office hosted the Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities today and unveiled its
National Climate Resilience Framework for communities to build more resiliently as they face increasingly severe weather events. The framework features comprehensive recommendations and opportunities for action, including partnerships between federal agencies and leading standards development organizations such as the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), to improve the resilience of buildings and other infrastructure. ASCE president Maria Lehman, P.E., was in attendance for the Summit.
ASCE's most widely adopted standard,
ASCE 7-22, is the primary reference of structural design requirements in all U.S. building codes and is updated every six years to reflect the latest data and trends presented by an ever-changing climate. Its most recent update, published in 2022, includes updates to environmental hazards used for building design including new wind speeds along the hurricane coastline, a completely new chapter for tornado loads, and the most substantial update to its chapter on flood loads since the inception of ASCE 7-22 – calling for structures to be built to withstand 500-year floods rather than the previous standard of 100-year flood mitigation.
Although modern codes and standards, such as ASCE 7-22, can mitigate climate hazards, many communities throughout the U.S. have not yet adopted these practices. The new White House framework calls for ensuring federal funding requires climate-resilient infrastructure investments by encouraging government at all levels to adopt consensus-based engineering standards, which would go a long way towards addressing vulnerabilities posed by future climate impacts.
ASCE, in conjunction with industry leaders represented at the Summit, supports federal efforts to improve climate data, enforce the most stringent codes and standards, and provide technical assistance to building and infrastructure stakeholders. To learn more about environmental hazard mitigation resources, follow
ASCE's Pathways to Resilient Communities Toolkit, a plain-language guide for federal, state, and local leaders as they seek out standards, best practices, data, and strategies that can be implemented to safeguard communities across the country from increasingly severe weather events.
ABOUT THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 150,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE works to raise awareness of the need to maintain and modernize the nation's infrastructure using sustainable and resilient practices, advocates for increasing and optimizing investment in infrastructure, and improve engineering knowledge and competency. For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
OSHA Investigating Bridge Accident Resulting in Construction Worker Fatality
October 29, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFSI Live reported that “[t]he federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened a probe into an early-morning truck accident at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge that left a construction worker dead Wednesday.” The accident occurred in New York “when a truck laying asphalt backed into [the worker] and crushed him.”
Ted Fitzgerald, OSHA spokesman, stated, “OSHA did respond and has opened an inspection to determine whether or not there were violations of workplace safety standards in connection with this fatality,” as quoted by SI Live.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
The California Legislature Passes SB 496 Limiting Design Professional Defense and Indemnity Obligations
November 21, 2017 —
Mark Himmelstein & Jenny Guzman – Newmeyer & Dillion LLPOriginally published by CDJ on June 15, 2017
Since 2008 when the California legislature limited subcontractor indemnity obligations, the design professional community has been shouting “what about us?” Well, the legislature finally responded and a new law that limits design professional’s defense and indemnity obligations to their percentage of fault goes into effect on January 1, 2018.
THE NEW LAW – SB 496
SB 496 amends California Civil Code section 2782.8 and states that indemnity agreements must be limited to the negligence, recklessness or willful misconduct of the indemnitee (i.e. no more Type I indemnity with design professionals). The amendment also provides that “in no event shall the cost to defend charged to the design professional exceed the design professional’s proportionate percentage of fault”, with a limited opportunity for reallocation in the event another defendant is judgment proof.
However, the duty to defend still remains and still arises at the time of the tender of the defense (both issues that were unsuccessfully targeted by the design professional lobbyists).
Reprinted courtesy of
Mark Himmelstein, Newmeyer & Dillion LLP and
Jenny Guzman, Newmeyer & Dillion LLP
Mr. Price may be contacted at mark.himmelstein@ndlf.com
Ms. Zucker may be contacted at jenny.guzman@ndlf.com
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Warning! Danger Ahead for Public Entities
July 30, 2019 —
Michael J. Baker - Snell & Wilmer Under Construction BlogPublic entities are known to assert False Claims actions “to up the ante” to intimidate and aggressively address contractor construction claims. This strategy in the case of John Ross of Industrial Sheet Metal, Inc. (JRI) V. City of Los Angeles Department of Airports (LAWA), 29 Cal. App. 5th 378 (2018), backfired on the public entity, LAWA, in a big way and should serve as a warning to public entities about expanding claims to include False Claim actions. In this case, LAWA was awarded $1 in contract damages, its California False Claims Act (CFCA) claim was rejected by the jury as were JRI’s claims against LAWA. Despite losing on the substantive contract claims, the trial court found that JRI “prevailed in the action” under the relevant CFCA fee provision, Government Code 12652, subd. (g)(9)(B), regardless of JRI’s failure to prevail in the action as a whole. The California Appellate Court (hereinafter “Court”) affirmed the trial court’s finding.
The CFCA is analogous to the federal False Claims Act (FFCA; 31 U.S.C. 3729 et seq.). Since the CFCA is patterned on similar federal legislation, it was appropriate for the Court to look to precedent construing this similar federal act in interpreting the CFCA provisions. Accordingly, the Court looked at the False Claims Act cases for guidance in upholding the trial court’s decision in its determination that JRI was the “prevailing party” for determining an attorney’s fees award against LAWA.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Michael J. Baker, Snell & WilmerMr. Baker may be contacted at
mjbaker@swlaw.com
Mechanic’s Liens and Leases Don’t Often Mix Well
May 03, 2021 —
Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law MusingsAs those who read my “musings” here at this construction law blog are well aware, the topic of Virginia mechanic’s liens is one that is much discussed. From the basic statutory requirements to the more technical aspects of these tricky beasts. One aspect of mechanic’s liens that I have yet to discuss in detail it how these liens attach in the situation where the contractor does work for a lessee and not for the owner of the underlying fee interest in the property.
A recent case out of the Western District of Virginia federal court, McCarthy Building Companies Inc. v. TPE Virginia Land Holdings LLC, discusses the interaction of Va. Code 43-20, work on a leasehold, and parties necessary to any litigation relating to a lien for the work on that leasehold. The basic facts, outlined more thoroughly in the linked opinion, are these. MBC provided certain work to TPE Kentuck Solar, LLC on property leased from TPE Virginia Land Holdings, LLC. The lease was for a fixed term and for a fixed amount regardless of the work performed at the property. MBC was unpaid by the Kentuck entity and then recorded a lien on the property and then sued to enforce that lien and for unjust enrichment against TPE Land Holdings. TPE Land Holding filed a motion to dismiss the mechanic’s lien and unjust enrichment counts.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
The Law Office of Christopher G. HillMr. Hill may be contacted at
chrisghill@constructionlawva.com
Louisiana Court Applies Manifestation Trigger to Affirm Denial of Coverage
June 10, 2015 —
Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law HawaiiApplying the manifestation trigger, the Louisiana Court of Appeal affirmed denial of coverage where the property damage manifested after the policy period expired. Landry v. Williamson, 2015 La. App. Unpub. LEXIS 213 (La. Ct. App. May 1, 2015).
On August 28, 2002, the Burkarts purchased a home from the Williamsons. One month later, water started leaking into the home during periods of rainfall. Suit was filed against the contractor, who was insured by Scottsdale. Scottsdale, who was added as a defendant, filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that it did not insure the developer at the time the alleged property damage occurred. Scottsdale's policy expired on August 1, 2002. The trial court granted Scottsdale's motion, finding coverage under its policy was not triggered because no property damage occurred during the policy period.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law HawaiiMr. Eyerly may be contacted at
te@hawaiilawyer.com
Lewis Brisbois Ranks 11th in Law360’s Glass Ceiling Report on Gender Parity in Law Firms
October 11, 2021 —
Lewis BrisboisLewis Brisbois has ranked 11th in Law360’s 2021 Glass Ceiling report, moving up from 37th place in 2020. The report measures female presence and gender parity in law firms, this year evaluating 269 organizations.
As described in the Law360 Pulse article titled "Glass Ceiling Report: How Does Your Firm Stack Up?," the publication redesigned its report this year to evaluate female attorneys’ industry standing from a new angle by showing how the percentage of women across three levels within law firms compared with the potential marketplace of hires. This evaluation resulted in the firms’ "pipeline scores," which measure a firm’s percentage points above or below a set of benchmarks assembled with data from the American Bar Association and previous Law360 submissions.
Lewis Brisbois’ Los Angeles Co-Managing Partner Jana Lubert and Chief Strategy Officer Janet Eskow, the co-chairs of Lewis Brisbois' Women's Initiative, each expressed excitement about the report, along with resolve to further promote gender diversity. "We are proud that Lewis Brisbois has moved up in these rankings because we have focused diligently on hiring and retaining the best legal talent from a diverse pool of candidates nationwide," Ms. Lubert said. "At the same time, we recognize that there is more to be done to further improve gender equity and inclusion. We remain committed to this important goal, both as it pertains to Lewis Brisbois and to the entire legal industry," she added.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Lewis Brisbois
