Happenings in and around the 2015 West Coast Casualty Seminar
May 07, 2015 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFWest Coast Casualty Construction Defect Seminar returns to the Disneyland Hotel next week (May 14th and 15th), and the Construction Defect Journal has compiled a list of concerts, sporting events, and museum exhibitions taking place in and around Anaheim. Whether you like to spend your personal time checking out a new band, or watching your favorite Angel slide into home, or perusing the local art museum, there is something to spark your interest.
CONCERT VENUES
THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN ANAHEIM
Located in Downtown Disney, The House of Blues in Anaheim is a short walk from the convention hall.
Live Band Karaoke
Wednesday, May 13th Starting at 10pm
No Cover
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Rockin’ The Blues with Griff Hamlin
Thursday, May 14th at 10pm
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Tyrone Wells
Saturday, May 16th at 7pm
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THE GROVE OF ANAHEIM
Near Angel Stadium, the Grove of Anaheim is just a few miles away from the seminar location.
Ministry
Monday, May 11th Doors Open at 7pm / Show Begins at 8pm
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Kamelot plus Special Guest Dragonforce
Friday, May 15th Doors Open at 7pm / Show Begins at 8pm
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CHAIN REACTION
Attendees can escape to this all-ages club that’s just a ten minute drive from the Disneyland Hotel.
Ice Nine Kills
Wednesday, May 13th at 7pm
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Warped Tour Battle of the Bands
Thursday, May 14th at 7pm
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Manifest Presents
Saturday, May 16th at 7pm
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SPORTING EVENTS
ANGEL’S STADIUM – BASEBALL
Take care of your popcorn-and-peanuts-and-cracker-jacks fix while cheering for the Angel’s—conveniently just a few miles from the Disneyland Hotel.
Angels v. Colorado Rockies
Tuesday, May 12th at 7:05pm
Wednesday, May 13th at 7:05pm
For More Information and to Purchase Tickets...
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
MUZEO
This local museum and cultural center is a short drive from the convention hall.
Cougars and Grizzlies: Sharing their Path
April 18, 2015-September 13th, 2015
Museum Days/Hours: Tuesday – Sunday (Closed Mondays) / 10 am to 5 pm
For More Information and to Purchase Tickets...
BOWERS MUSEUM (Santa Ana)
Voted “The Best Museum in Orange County” by OC Register Readers for 16 consecutive years, this arts and cultural center is worth the fifteen minute drive.
Qi Baishi: China’s Modern Master
April 11th, 2015-July 11th, 2015
Museum Days/Hours: Tuesday – Sunday (Closed Mondays) / 10 am to 4 pm
For More Information and to Purchase Tickets...
Where Ends Meet: A Retrospective of Works by Nancy Ravenhall Johnson
March 13th, 2015-August 16th, 2015
Museum Days/Hours: Tuesday – Sunday (Closed Mondays) / 10 am to 4 pm
For More Information and to Purchase Tickets...
Exhibition: Adams, Curtis, and Weston: Photographers of the American West
May 16th, 2015-November 29th, 2015
Museum Days/Hours: Tuesday – Sunday (Closed Mondays) / 10 am to 4 pm
For More Information and to Purchase Tickets...
Lecture: Adams, Curtis, and Weston: Photographers of the American West
Saturday, May 16th from 1:30pm to 2:30pm
For More Information and to Purchase Tickets...
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Mental Health and Wellbeing in Construction: Impacts to Jobsite Safety
August 16, 2021 —
NAHB - NWFA and Hardwood Floors MagazineThis article originally appeared in the National Wood Flooring Association's Hardwood Floors Magazine.
In the construction industry, workplace safety efforts have often focused on eliminating the most-common causes of on-the-job accidents, such as falls, being struck by or caught in-between objects, electrocutions, or being exposed to hazardous chemicals and substances. For more than two decades, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has been at the forefront of enhancing physical safety and health in residential construction. NAHB takes proactive steps to keep members and affiliated state and local associations informed and educated about safety and health issues and trends affecting the building industry, including developing safety and health resources to help builders and contractors operate safe jobsites and lower workers’ compensation costs.
However, we recently have learned that construction workers are particularly susceptible to mental health issues and suicide – which is a silent killer in construction, and we know that the home building industry is not immune to the issues in the construction industry at large. We also know that industry associations have a role to play in promoting the importance of worker health and well-being to their member organizations. Helping to create sustainable workplaces and healthy, thriving professionals strengthens the industry and deepens the volunteer leadership bench. In addition to the benefits to the association, workplace well-being is good for employee health and retention, may reduce the cost of insurance, sick time, and employee turnover, and increase productivity. This can be accomplished by addressing mental well-being as part of overall safety – both physical and psychological.
How big is this problem of mental health and suicides in construction? According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the construction industry has one of the highest rates of death by suicide compared to other industries. In 2017, the suicide rate for construction workers was 53.3 per 100,000 workers, which is nearly five times greater than the rate for all fatal work-related injuries in construction (9.5 per 100,000 workers) from the physical hazards companies focus on eliminating.
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NAHB
Appeals Court Finds Manuscript Additional Insured Endorsements Ambiguous Regarding Completed Operations Coverage for Additional Insured
September 07, 2017 —
Christopher Kendrick & Valerie A. Moore – Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLPIn Pulte Home Corp. v. American Safety Indemnity Co. (No. D070478; filed 8/30/17), a California appeals court found that manuscript additional insured endorsements on construction subcontractors’ policies were ambiguous regarding additional insured coverage for the developer, and that substantial evidence supported a finding that the insurer’s refusal to defend the developer was in bad faith. The court also approved awarding punitive damages on a one-to-one basis with the general damages. But the appeals court remanded the case for a further determination on the amount of Brandt fees, based on the developer’s change from a contingency to an hourly agreement.
The Pulte case arose from the development of two residential housing projects beginning in 2003 and sold in 2005-2006. Subcontractors were required to name Pulte as additional insured on their policies, some of them issued by American Safety. In 2013, homeowners sued Pulte based in part on the work of subcontractors insured by American Safety, which then denied coverage to Pulte because the construction had taken place years earlier.
Reprinted courtesy of
Christopher Kendrick, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP and
Valerie A. Moore, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP
Mr. Kendrick may be contacted at ckendrick@hbblaw.com
Ms. Moore may be contacted at vmoore@hbblaw.com
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7 Sustainability Ideas for Modular Classrooms in the Education Industry (guest post)
June 10, 2015 —
Melissa Dewey Brumback – Construction Law in North CarolinaToday, a guest post on sustainable modular classrooms from Kathy Werder, a freelance architect by profession and a researcher by nature. According to Kathy, most of her research papers focus on promoting integration that leads to sustainable and lean design and construction practices. Kathy is obsessed with the latest rage in the construction industry – modular building solutions. She is also an avid writer, and loves blogging about green buildings and portable construction units. Welcome, Kathy!
According to Wikipedia, a sustainable building refers to “ a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle from sitting, to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.”
So if we accept this definition to be true, in order to make an actual sustainable building we have to consider the entire process of building right from the blueprint stage all the way to demolition, and ensure that at every step of the way there is minimal or no negative impact on the environment, especially in terms of resource efficiency.
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Melissa Dewey Brumback, Construction Law in North CarolinaMs. Brumback may be contacted at
mbrumback@rl-law.com
Environmental and Regulatory Law Update: New Federal and State Rulings
April 19, 2022 —
Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2GavelThe first quarter of 2022 has yielded a number of decisions, reversals and agency adjustments worth note.
FEDERAL CIRCUIT
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit – Food & Water Watch v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
On March 11, 2022, the court decided the FERC case. On December 19, 2019, the Commission issued a Certificate to Tennessee Gas Pipeline and determined that a “modest expansion” and upgrade of the existing 11,000-mile natural gas pipeline would have no significant environmental impact. However, one of the Commissioners filed a partial dissent, arguing that the Commission’s treatment of the climate change impacts was inadequate. A petition for review was filed, and now the court has decided that the Commission erred in not accounting for the indirect effects of the expansion, namely the downstream emissions of greenhouse gas generated by the pipeline’s delivery of the gas to its customers. Consequently, NEPA’s requirement that a rigorous environmental assessment be made before the authorization was granted was violated. However, the court decided against vacating the Commission’s orders, which would have had a “disruptive effect” on the project which is, or soon will be, operational.
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Anthony B. Cavender, PillsburyMr. Cavender may be contacted at
anthony.cavender@pillsburylaw.com
Water Drainage Case Lacks Standing
March 28, 2012 —
CDJ STAFFThe Texas Court of Appeals has ruled in the case La Tierra de Simmons Familia Ltd. V. Main Event Entertainment, LP. The trial court had found for Main Event. On appeal, the court threw out some of the grounds on which the trial court had reached its decision.
The case involved two commercial lots in northwest Austin, Texas. The uphill tract (Phase III of the Anderson Arbor development) diverts its runoff onto the lower tract (the “Ballard tract”). The owners of the Ballard tract claim that “the drainage system was designed or constructed in a manner that has damaged and continues to damage the Ballard tract.”
Both tracts have undergone changes of ownership since the construction of the drainage system in 2004. At the time the drainage system was constructed, the parcel was owned by Sears Roebuck and Co. Sears later sold the property. Main Event Entertainment is the current tenant. Likewise, the Ballard tract was previously owned by the Ballard Estate which sold the property to La Tierra on an “as is” basis in 2007.
After La Tierra bought the Ballard tract, La Tierra’s engineer “witnessed and videotaped what he described as ‘flooding’ on the Ballard tract caused by storm water discharge from the Anderson Arbor drainage system during a rainfall event.” La Tierra determined that an adequate drainage system would cost about $204,000. Development plans were put on hold.
La Tierra sued Main Event and various other parties associated with the uphill tract, seeking “actual damages for (1) decrease and loss in rental income due to delay in obtaining the development permit, (2) interest on carrying costs during that time period, (3) the cost to build a water conveyance system on the Ballard tract, (4) engineering fees incurred to redesign the water conveyance system, (5) unspecified out-of-pocket real estate expenses, and (6) property devaluation occasioned by the need to construct an expensive water conveyance system.” The trial court never reached these claims, ruling instead that La Tierra lacked standing, that its claims were barred under the statute of limitations, and that there was no evidence of damage.
La Tierra appealed, arguing that “(1) the summary-judgment evidence does not conclusively establish that property damage claims accrued or were discovered prior to September 11, 2007, which is within the limitations period and was after La Tierra purchased the property; (2) even if the property was damaged before La Tierra acquired ownership of the Ballard tract, standing exists based on the assignments of interest from the Ballard Estate heirs, and the discovery rule tolls limitations until the injury was discovered on September 11, 2007; (3) limitations does not bar La Tierra's request for injunctive relief; (4) La Tierra's water code claim against Main Event and M.E.E.P. is viable based on their control over the drainage system, which makes them necessary and indispensable parties for injunctive relief; (5) La Tierra presented more than a scintilla of evidence to raise a fact issue on damages, causation, and other essential elements of its causes of action; and (6) the trial court abused its discretion when it sustained the defendants' objections to La Tierra's summary-judgment evidence.”
The appeals court concluded that La Tierra’s second claim was irrelevant to standing, as La Tierra “obtained assignments from the Ballard Estate heirs ? nearly one year after the lawsuit was initially filed.” Nor did the court accept their first point. The water system had been operating unaltered since January, 2004, with monthly maintenance and inspection to maintain its designed operation. Further, a feasibility report La Tierra received stated that “over sixteen acres drain into those ponds, and thus onto this site.” The court noted that “the underlying facts giving rise to a cause of action were known before La Tierra acquired ownership of the Ballard tract.”
The court concluded that the drainage issue is a permanent injury, but that it “accrued before La Tierra acquired an ownership interest in the property.” As La Tierra has standing, the appeals court ruled that it was improper for the trial court to rule on the issues. The appeals court dismissed the questions of whether the case was barred under the statute of limitation and also the question of whether or not La Tierra had damages.
As the issue of standing would not allow La Tierra to bring the suit, the appeals court found for the defendants, dismissing the case for this single reason, and otherwise affirming the ruling of the lower court.
Read the court’s decision…
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Sales of New Homes in U.S. Increased 5.4% in July to 507,000
August 26, 2015 —
Shobhana Chandra – BloombergPurchases of new homes in the U.S. rebounded in July, bolstering signs the real-estate market is picking up.
Sales climbed 5.4 percent, the biggest gain this year, to a 507,000 annualized pace from a 481,000 rate in the prior month, a Commerce Department report showed Tuesday in Washington. The median forecast of 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 510,000. Demand had declined 7.7 percent in June.
Demand for new properties is likely to keep expanding amid strong employment, low borrowing costs and a lack of available existing homes from which to choose. The improving outlook may spur more residential construction, contributing to the economic expansion in the second half of the year.
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Another Colorado Construction Defect Reform Bill Dies
May 07, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFColorado construction defects reform Senate Bill 220 died when “Senate President Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, declined to call a second committee to hear” the bill, according to Ed Sealover writing for the Denver Business Journal. Sen. Carroll declared that the “bill backers” did not incorporate any of the “suggestions she or House Speaker Mark Ferrandino had given them.”
“SB 220 would have required condo-unit owners to submit to alternative-dispute resolution such as arbitration or mediation if the unit developer required it,” Sealover reported. “And it would have required that a majority of members of a homeowners association agree to file a lawsuit, a standard significantly larger than the two-person bar that now must be met.”
Bill Cosponsor Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Castle Rock, “believes litigation reform” will become “an election issue and” that it “has strong momentum heading into the 2015 session.”
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