FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Best Lawyers Recognizes Twelve White and Williams Lawyers

September 15, 2016 — White and Williams LLP
The 2017 Best Lawyers in America list includes twelve White and Williams lawyers. Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer-review. The methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area. Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of quality legal services.

2017 Best Lawyers
• Frank Bruno, Patent Law
• Richard Campbell, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• James Coffey, Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Timothy Davis, Real Estate Law
• William Hussey, Tax Law; Trusts and Estates
• Michael Kraemer, Employment Law - Management; Labor Law - Management; Litigation - Labor and Employment
• Randy Maniloff, Insurance Law
• John Orlando, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
• Thomas Rogers, Real Estate Law
• Joan Rosoff, Real Estate Law
• Craig Stewart, Insurance Law; Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
• William Taylor, Construction Law
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Reprinted courtesy of White and Williams LLP


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Contractors: A Lesson on Being Friendly

April 06, 2016 — Garret Murai – California Construction Law Blog
I know. You’re just trying to be friendly. Don’t. Particularly when you’re a contractor bidding on a public works project. Those dinners at swanky restaurants, tickets to The Jersey Boys, and all expense paid trips to the Napa Valley have a way of appearing less “friendly” in hindsight, and more like bribery, or as they say, “pay to play.” In Sweetwater Union High School District v. Gilbane Building Company, California Court of Appeals for the Fourth District, Case No. D067383 (February 24, 2016), three contractors, Gilbane Building Company (“Gilbane”), The Seville Group, Inc. (“Seville”) and Gilbane/SGI Joint Venture (“Gilbane/SGI”) (collectively “Contractors”) were sued by the Sweetwater Union School District (“District”) to void their contracts with the District and for disgorgement of all monies paid to them under Government Code section 1090 after it was discovered that the Contractors had engaged in a “pay to play” scheme involving several officials of the District. 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

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Homebuilder Predictions for Tallahassee

October 10, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
The cost of putting up a new home in Tallahassee has risen, but Joe Manausa thinks that builders might be putting up homes that will cost more than home buyers are able to pay. He notes that permits and sales are up, but numbers are still well below those in 2006. Mr. Manusa thinks that Tallahassee could face “a need (demand) for homes priced below $300,000, but a glut of supply for those priced above $300,000.” He says that home builders “need to target construction opportunities below that price point.” He notes that average price of new construction is $272,000, but resales are going for $161,000, which puts quite a premium on a new home. Read the court decision
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A Duty to Design and Maintain Reasonably Safe Roadways Extends to All Persons. (WA)

February 25, 2014 — Natasha Khachatourians – Scheer & Zehnder LLP Liability Newsletter
Case: Lowman v. Wilbur, et al., 178 Wn.2d 165, 309 P.3d 3.87 (2013). Issue: If a passenger’s injuries are in fact caused by the placement of a utility pole too close to a roadway, can the injuries be deemed too remote for purposes of legal causation? NO. Facts: Plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle that lost control and collided with a utility pole that was 4.47 feet from the edge of the roadway. The vehicle’s driver was under the influence of alcohol. Plaintiff sued the driver as well as the utility company and Skagit County for negligence. The trial court granted the utility company and Skagit County’s summary judgment motion, finding that the negligent placement of the utility pole was not a legal cause of plaintiff’s injuries. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether a negligently placed utility pole could be the legal cause of a resulting injury. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Natasha Khachatourians, Scheer & Zehnder LLP
Ms. Khachatourians may be contacted at natashak@scheerlaw.com

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Ben L. Aderholt Joins Coats Rose Construction Litigation Group

February 25, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
According to a press release on PR Newswire, “Ben Aderholt has joined Coats Rose law firm's Houston office as Of Counsel.” Aderholt was a “past President of the Houston Bar Association, past Chair of the Mayor's Council and a Director of the State Bar of Texas.” Furthermore, he “has taught commercial law at the University of Houston” and “continues to be active on the Editorial Board of the Construction Law Journal.” Coats Rose has offices in Houston, Clear Lake, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and New Orleans. Read the court decision
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Despite Construction Gains, Cement Maker Sees Loss

May 10, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
Vulcan Materials, the Birmingham, Alabama-based business that describes itself as the nation’s largest producer of construction aggregates and aggregate-based construction materials, has reported that its losses have increased to $54.8 million in the first quarter of 2013. This was on revenues of $538 million, an increase from the past. The first quarter also saw the company shipping 248,000 tons of material, an increase of fourteen percent over the first quarter of 2012. Losses were attributed to bad weather, lower production volumes, and an increase in costs. Global Cement quotes Don James, the chairman and CEO of Vulcan, “growth in residential construction activity and its traditional follow-on impact to private non-residential construction underpins our expectations for volume and earnings improvement in 2013.” Read the court decision
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Are Housing Prices Poised to Fall in Denver?

December 10, 2015 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
Denver, Dallas, and Houston’s housing markets are rising too quickly and will soon hit “’bubble territory’” according to a housing market index by Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, reported the Denver Business Journal. "There is about a 70 percent chance that renters in Denver will get more wealth on average than buyers," Ken Johnson, a real estate economist at the university in Boca Raton, Florida, told the Denver Post. Read the court decision
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Construction Defect Headaches Can Be Avoided

February 21, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
Construction defect claims can be an avoidable headache, if builders apply some forethought. Mark J. Peschel of Johnson & Lindberg, a Bloomington, Minnesota law firm, points out that simply says that windows should be weatherproofed by appropriate flashing, without any guidance on accomplishing that. He notes that “builders tend not to know the weatherproofing code provisions as well as they should.” Another lawyer, Eric S. Hayes of Brown and Carlson in St. Louis Park extends this, “it’s not just the building codes that need to be followed, but also the standards in the industry.” Hayes notes that another way builders can avoid headaches is by being proactive. “I often hear, once things have gone sour and moved toward litigation, that the homeowner contacted the contractor a dozen times about a leaking basement and nothing was done, so they were forced to sue.” His advice for builders: “Don’t let it fester.” Read the court decision
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