Columbus Ohio Building Expert Directory

Housing Starts Surge 23% in Comeback for Canadian Builders

July 15, 2019 — Theophilos Argitis - Bloomberg
Canadian housing starts unexpectedly surged in April, in another sign of recovery for the nation’s battered real estate market. Builders started work on an annualized 235,460 units last month, the highest level in 10 months and up 23 percent from 191,981 units in March, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Wednesday. The gain was driven by new multi-unit construction in Toronto and Vancouver. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Theophilos Argitis, Bloomberg

Does the Implied Warranty of Habitability Extend to Subsequent Purchasers? Depends on the State

October 08, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
Attorneys for Traub Liberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP (in JD Supra Business Advisor), discussed how state courts have come to different conclusions as to “whether a subsequent purchaser of a previously inhabited residence can recover contract damages from a builder or general contractor for breach of the implied warranty of habitability.” Recently, a Pennsylvania “sided with the builder, holding that the implied warranty of habitability was grounded in contract law. Thus, the Court reasoned that an action for breach of the implied warranty of habitability required a showing of contractual privity between the parties. Because there was no contractual privity between the Conways and the builder, the Conways could not pursue an action against the builder based on a breach of the implied warranty of habitability.” However, other state courts have made other conclusions. “Iowa permits an action for breach of the implied warranty of workmanlike construction by subsequent purchasers and does not require a showing of contractual privity. Rhode Island also does not require contractual privity, but limits liability to latent defects discovered within 10 years of construction.” Vermont and Connecticut, however, require contract privity. Read the court decision
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9th Circuit Plumbs Through the Federal and State False Claims Acts

January 16, 2024 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
You may have heard of the False Claims Act and know that it penalizes companies and individuals in contract with the government who present false claims. The federal False Claims Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to penalize profiteers during the Civil War who were selling the Union Army moth eaten blankets, boxes of sawdust instead of guns, and sometimes re-selling the Army calvary horses several times over. Since then, many states, including California, as well as municipalities, have enacted their own false claim statutes. As currently written, the federal False Claims Act provides for statutory penalties against any person who:

“[K]nowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval”;
“[K]nowingly makes, uses or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim”;
“[H]as possession, custody, or control of property or money used, or to be used, by the Government an knowingly delivers, or causes to be delivered, less than all of that money or property”;

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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

Arctic Roads and Runways Face the Prospect of Rapid Decline

July 19, 2021 — Tony Frangie Mawad - Bloomberg
Melting permafrost across Arctic regions has already caused highways to buckle and homes to sink. A new study conducted in the north of Alaska helps explain why rising temperatures are hitting roads, airports and other infrastructure particularly hard. Researchers who monitored temperatures and melting near Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope documented how the thawing of frozen ground beneath a highway tended to spread laterally to the side of the road, with the melting process accelerated by snow accumulations and puddling. Those interactions led to more rapid thawing than in areas of undisturbed permafrost. Researchers also found that melting in their test area, alongside a highway that runs atop permafrost, followed a two-phase process — a gradual initial thaw, followed by an accelerated process once warming exceeded a critical point. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tony Frangie Mawad, Bloomberg

Scope of Alaska’s Dump Lien Statute Substantially Reduced For Natural Gas Contractors

March 16, 2020 — Trevor Lane - Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
In All American Oilfield, LLC v. Cook Inlet Energy, LLC,[1] the Supreme Court of Alaska clarified and substantially reduced a natural gas contractor’s ability to secure a preferred lien for its contribution to a natural gas well. Alaska’s dump lien statute (AS § 34.35.140) authorizes a laborer to claim a lien for the amount owed for their labor in the production of a “dump or mass” of “extracted, hoisted and raised” matter from a mine. While Alaska’s dump lien statute is one of three Alaskan statutes allowing laborers to attach liens to mines, mining equipment or minerals,[2] the dump lien statute is unique because it is prior and preferred over other liens, increasing the laborer’s chance of being paid in a bankruptcy proceeding. Attaching a lien to a “dump or mass” of hard-rock minerals piled outside a mine or oil stored in a tank is relatively straightforward. However, natural gas is typically left in its natural reservoir until removed by a pipeline that carries the gas to a location far from the mine. Natural gas is not extracted and stored in a “dump or mass” like other minerals, and until August 2019, controversy existed over how—or if—the dump lien statute could be used by natural gas contractors. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Trevor Lane, Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
Mr. Lane may be contacted at trevor.lane@acslawyers.com

Safety Data: Noon Presents the Hour of Greatest Danger

April 20, 2017 — Richard Korman - Engineering News-Record
Unlike previous research into construction fatalities, a new review of three years of Labor Dept. data found that most occur between 10 am and 3 pm, with a peak at noon. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Richard Korman, ENR
Mr. Korman may be contacted at kormanr@enr.com

Construction Lien Needs to Be Recorded Within 90 Days from Lienor’s Final Furnishing

March 22, 2018 — David Adelstein – Florida Construction Legal Updates

A lienor needs to record its construction lien within 90 days of its final furnishing date. This final furnishing date excludes punchlist, warranty, or the lienor’s own corrective work. A lien recorded outside of the 90-day window will be deemed invalid.

The opinion in In re: Jennerwein, 309 B.R. 385 (M.D. Fla. 2004) provides a good discussion of this 90-day window. This matter dealt with a debtor / owner’s bankruptcy where the owner was contesting the validity of a construction lien by its pool contractor. The owner contended that the lienor’s lien was recorded outside of this 90-day window thus rendering the lien invalid. The bankruptcy court was determining the validity of the lien.

In this matter, the owner hired a swimming pool contractor to construct a pool. On October 25, 2002, the pool contractor installed pavers around the pool. After this was performed, the pool contractor realized the owner was unable to obtain the financing to pay for the pool. As a result, the pool contractor ceased doing any more improvements. But, neither the pool contractor nor the owner terminated the contract. Then, on November 27, 2002, the pool contractor sent a supervisor to the property to inspect the pool (work-in-place), the pool equipment, the installed pavers, made a list of the unfinished work, and remove any debris. On January 27, 2003, the pool contractor recorded its lien.

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Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Florida Construction Legal Updates
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dadelstein@gmail.com

The G2G Year-End Roundup (2022)

January 04, 2023 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
Our year-end roundup highlights the top-read Gravel2Gavel posts from 2022. Our authors addressed the legal implications for a variety of hot topics and market disruptions, providing deep industry insights that spanned Metaverse real estate investments, economic sanctions in Russia, and cybersecurity for smart buildings.

NFT Use Cases in Real Estate by Megan L. Jones and David W. Wright. The authors discuss how entrepreneurs are searching for new industries to disrupt utilizing the advantages offered by NFTs and blockchain more generally, with many turning their heads towards real estate.
Commercial Real Estate Brokerages in an Uncertain Russian Market by Cait Horner and Adam J. Weaver. The authors discuss how several commercial real estate firms joined the list of companies temporarily suspending—or outright terminating—property and facility management operations in Russia amid economic sanctions and mounting international pressure.

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Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

COLUMBUS OHIO BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES