Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

Wisconsin Supreme Court Holds Fire Damage Resulted from Single Occurrence

November 21, 2018 — Brian Margolies - TLSS Insurance Law Blog
In its recent decision in Secura Ins. v. Lyme St. Croix Forest Co., LLC 2018 WI 103 (Oct. 30, 2018), the Wisconsin Supreme Court had occasion to consider whether a forest fire that caused damage to several homes and properties should be considered a single or multiple occurrences. Secura insured Lyme St. Croix Forest Company under a general liability policy. Of relevance was the policy’s $500,000 sublimit of coverage for property damage due to fire arising from logging or lumbering operations, subject to a $2 million general policy aggregate limit. Lyme St. Croix sought coverage under the policy for a fire that resulted from its logging equipment. The fire lasted for three days, burning nearly 7,500 acres and causing damage to numerous homes and businesses. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Brian Margolies, Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP
Mr. Margolies may be contacted at bmargolies@tlsslaw.com

It’s Time to Change the Way You Think About Case Complexity

August 07, 2018 — Ben Patrick - Gordon & Rees Construction Law Blog
There are few things that lawyers love more than telling war stories. Partially, that’s because many lawyers either only or primarily have friends who are lawyers, and war stories are a way for lawyers to relate to each other—your barber doesn’t understand the pain of reading through 5 paragraphs of irrelevant objections posed to each of 75 interrogatories, but your fellow lawyers will. One common feature of war stories is a note regarding how much was at issue in the case. “I was handling this $25 million claim once….” Lawyers include the dollar figure in dispute as a shorthand for the complexity of the case they’re talking about. “Oh, we’ll be in depositions for a month solid, this is a $10 million case!” I don’t know where I picked up this habit, but I know exactly how I learned to rethink it. A friend of mine, as in-house counsel, was handling a case worth over a billion dollars. When he told me about it, my jaw dropped. One of the first things I asked him was, how do you manage a case that big? And he told me about the several law firms he had engaged, all the people working on it. But then he said: it’s not really a complicated case. There were only 4-5 real factual questions, and a similar number of legal ones. It’s just that every factual question had a very high price tag associated with it. The high price tag doesn’t make the factual question any more complex, or any harder to litigate. For example, your builders’ risk policy either has coverage for flood damage or it doesn’t. If it does, then it doesn’t matter whether the flood washed the whole building away or just some materials from the laydown area—coverage is coverage, irrespective of quantum. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Ben Patrick, Gordon & Rees Scully Mansukhani
Mr. Patrick may be contacted at jpatrick@grsm.com

Building and Landscape Standards Enacted in Response to the Governor's Mandatory Water Restrictions Dealing with the Drought and Possible Effects of El Niño

January 06, 2016 — Clayton T. Tanaka – Newmeyer & Dillion, LLP
Earlier this year, with California facing one of the most severe droughts on record, Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. issued Executive Order B-29-15 (the “Executive Order”) aimed at conserving water supplies and reducing water waste throughout the State of California. For the first time in California’s history, this Executive Order directed state agencies to implement immediate measures to save water, increase enforcement against water waste, invest in new technologies, and streamline government response to ongoing drought conditions. In response, various state agencies proposed emergency changes to existing building and landscape standards in the California Green Building Standards Code (California Code of Regulations, title 24, part 11) (“CALGreen”) and the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (California Code of Regulations, title 23, part 11) (“Model Ordinance”) pertaining to the use of potable water. In July, the California Building Standards Commission and the California Water Commission adopted the proposed changes after public review and comment. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Clayton T. Tanaka, Newmeyer & Dillion, LLP
Mr. Tanaka may be contacted at clay.tanaka@ndlf.com

Texas Considers a Quartet of Construction Bills

April 03, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
Among the issues the Texas legislature is taking up is a measure that would require builders to buy back homes if they could not fix defects after three tries, but the law would only apply if the homeowner was a veteran. Some supporters of the bill, however, think it should be applied to all homeowners. Additionally, the state is also considering a measure that would adopt a new definition of “construction defect” and require contractors who bought homes back to disclose all construction defects and how they were remediated. Another measure would require builders to provide construction documents, including blueprints, to buyers of new homes. A final measure would create a standardized contract for the sale of new homes. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of

Flood Insurance Claim Filed in State Court Properly Dismissed

October 28, 2015 — Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law Hawaii
The insureds' claim for flood coverage filed in state court was properly dismissed by the trial court. Rodriguez-Roble v. Am. Nat'l Prop. & Cas. Co., 2015 La. App LEXIS 1810 (La. Ct. App. Sept. 23, 2015). The insureds' home was damaged by wind, rain and flood water during Hurricane Isac. The insureds provided to American National what they contended was satisfactory proof of their claim. American National failed to make any offers to resolve the claim. The insureds sued in state court, seeking damages under the policy and penalties for American National's alleged bad faith in failing to settle or pay the claim. American National moved to dismiss, arguing that the state court did not have subject matter jurisdiction. American National further argued that under the National Flood Insurance Program, the federal courts had exclusive jurisdiction over the denial and adjustment of flood insurance claims. The trial court agreed that the flood insurance policy was governed by federal law. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Superior Court Of Pennsylvania Holds That CASPA Does Not Allow For Individual Claims Against A Property Owner’s Principals Or Shareholders

January 07, 2015 — William J. Taylor and Michael Jervis – White and Williams LLP
In Scungio Borst Assocs. v. 410 Shurs Lane Developers, LLC, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held that an individual principal/shareholder of a property owner could not be held personally liable as an “agent of the owner” for unpaid invoices, penalties, and attorneys fees under the Pennsylvania Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act (CASPA), 73 P.S. §§ 501-516, even though the property owner itself had failed to make payments allegedly due under a construction contract. CASPA is a Pennsylvania statute which is designed to protect contractors and subcontractors from nonpayment and which, to that end, establishes rules and deadlines for payment under construction contracts between property owners, contractors, and subcontractors. An owner or contractor who does not adhere to the Act’s payment requirements is subject to the imposition of interest, penalties, and attorneys’ fees. In this recent case, the property owner, a limited liability company, had retained the plaintiff contractor to perform construction services on a condominium project. Upon completion of the work, the contractor was not paid approximately $1.5 million that it was owed under the contract. The contractor filed suit under CASPA to obtain the payment it was owed plus interest, penalties and fees, and named both the property owner and its individual principal as defendants. The trial court granted summary judgment to the individual principal on all claims asserted against him, and the contractor appealed, arguing that CASPA allows for claims against both a property owner and its principal when the principal is an “agent of the owner acting with the owner’s authority.” Reprinted courtesy of Michael Jervis, White and Williams LLP and William J. Taylor, White and Williams LLP Mr. Jervis may be contacted at jervism@whiteandwilliams.com; Mr. Taylor may be contacted at taylorw@whiteandwilliams.com Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of

U.S. Housing Starts Top Forecast on Single-Family Homes

December 17, 2015 — Victoria Stilwell – Bloomberg
New-home construction in the U.S. rebounded in November, led by gains in single-family dwellings that signal the residential real estate industry will continue to support growth in the world’s largest economy. Housing starts climbed 10.5 percent to a 1.17 million annualized rate from a 1.06 million pace in October, figures from the Commerce Department showed Wednesday in Washington. The median estimate of 81 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 1.13 million rate. Work began on the most stand-alone houses since January 2008, and permits for similar projects reached an eight-year high. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Victoria Stilwell, Bloomberg

BHA Announces New Orlando Location

September 30, 2019 — Donald MacGregor - Bert L. Howe & Associates, Inc.
Bert L. Howe & Associates, Inc., one of the country’s leading construction forensics and consulting firms has just announced the opening of their second Florida office. Located in Orlando, this new office will join BHA’s existing Miami location, expanding BHA’s presence in the state and increasing the firm’s ability to provide the highest level of services and logistic support to their clients in Central and North Florida, and in particular, the Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and Tallahassee markets. Since 1993, BHA has been an industry leader in providing construction consulting and forensic services and has been a trusted partner with builders and insurance carriers, both large and small, across the United States. In Florida, BHA has been providing construction defect, storm, and general construction-claims related forensic expert services for the past decade with a proven track record of successful results. With the addition of new offices in Orlando, Bert L. Howe & Associates, Inc. offers the experience of over 20 years of service to carriers, defense counsel, and insurance professionals as designated experts in over 7,000 claims. BHA’s staff encompasses a broad range of Florida-licensed and credentialed experts in the areas of general contracting and specialty trades, as well as architects, and both civil and structural engineers, and has provided services on behalf of carriers, developers, general contractors and sub-contractors alike. BHA’s new Orlando office is located in the Regions Bank Tower, 111 North Orange Avenue, Suite 800, Orlando FL, 32801. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Donald MacGregor, Bert L. Howe & Associates, Inc.
Mr. MacGregor may be contacted at donm@berthowe.com

SEATTLE WASHINGTON BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES