Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Fall to Lowest Since 2012
March 26, 2014 —
Shobhana Chandra – BloombergPurchases (ETSLTOTL) of previously owned homes in the U.S. declined in February to the lowest level since July 2012, a sign the industry may be slow to recover.
Contract closings on existing properties fell 0.4 percent to a 4.6 million annual rate, matching the median projection in a Bloomberg survey, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. Prices rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier, the group said.
The slowdown in sales since the middle of last year reflects a pickup in borrowing costs, declining affordability and, more recently, bad weather. Faster job growth that generates bigger income gains are needed to spur demand and allow housing to contribute more to the economy.
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Shobhana Chandra, BloombergMs. Chandra may be contacted at
schandra1@bloomberg.net
Newmeyer & Dillion Welcomes Three Associates to Newport Beach Office
January 26, 2017 —
Newmeyer & Dillion LLPNEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – JANUARY 24, 2017 – Enjoying rapid expansion in many primary practice areas, Newmeyer & Dillion LLP is pleased to welcome new associates
Jenny Guzman and
Jason Moberly Caruso, and welcomes back
Lily (Toubi) Razai to the Newport Beach office. The addition of these three associates fortifies the firm’s commitment to provide unparalleled service to our clients.
Firm Managing Partner,
Jeff Dennis, explained that each hire addresses the immediate and long-term needs of our clients, and firm's desire for strategic growth. "We always remain focused on what will allow us to better represent our clients, not just now but far into the future. We are excited to bring these three talented lawyers aboard as we continue to expand our capabilities across practice areas.”
Guzman, Caruso and Razai each practice business and real estate litigation, with Razai’s practice including land use and eminent domain matters. Caruso also practices construction law and Guzman's practice also focuses on business and real estate transactions.
Each attorney has unique strengths that continue to diversify the firm’s approach to their clients. In addition to serving clients in state and federal courts, Razai has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution proceedings, and has served as a mediator in state courts. Awarded Super Lawyers 2016 Rising Star, Caruso utilizes his extensive judicial experience to argue on behalf of his clients at various levels from arbitration to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Guzman draws on her past experience in private equity and venture capital to protect businesses and help them achieve their full potential. These three associates, along with their diverse experience and cohesive strengths, further reinforce N&D’s foundation for continued growth and excellence.
About Newmeyer & Dillion
For more than 30 years, Newmeyer & Dillion has delivered creative and outstanding legal solutions and trial results for a wide array of clients. With over 70 attorneys practicing in all aspects of business, employment, real estate, construction and insurance law, Newmeyer & Dillion delivers legal services tailored to meet each client’s needs. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with offices in Walnut Creek, California and Las Vegas, Nevada, Newmeyer & Dillion attorneys are recognized by The Best Lawyers in America©, and Super Lawyers as top tier and some of the best lawyers in California, and have been given Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review's AV Preeminent® highest rating. For additional information, call 949-854-7000 or visit www.ndlf.com.
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Prompt Payment More Likely on Residential Construction Jobs Than Commercial or Public Jobs
May 02, 2022 —
LevelsetNEW ORLEANS, May 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In construction, no line of work guarantees prompt and in-full payments, but contractors working on residential jobs say their rate of prompt payment is significantly better than commercial or public jobs, according to the
2022 Levelset Cash Flow and Payment Report. However, the report revealed that residential construction jobs require increased communication to improve the chance of prompt payment when compared to commercial or public jobs.
Contractors working on residential projects are more than twice as likely as those working on public projects to report getting paid within 30 days, with residential construction contractors saying they are paid in 30 days or less 48% of the time and public construction contractors saying that only happens 21% of the time.
Significantly slow payments of 60 days or more are three times more likely on public construction projects than on residential construction projects, according to the survey participants. Residential contractors say it happens rarely, just 6% of the time, while public project contractors say it happens nearly one out of five times (18%).
For more information about the report and a detailed summary of findings, please visit: www.levelset.com/survey
About Levelset
Levelset's mission is to empower contractors to always get what they earn. Levelset's products help millions in the construction industry each year to make payment paperwork and compliance easier, get cash faster, monitor the risk on jobs and contractors, and better understand payment processes and rules. The results are faster payments, access to capital, and fewer surprises. Founded in 2012, Levelset is based in New Orleans, Louisiana, with offices in Austin, Texas, and Cairo, Egypt, and is owned and operated by Procore Technologies, Inc. For more information, visit www.levelset.com.
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Construction Is Holding Back the Economy
February 28, 2018 —
Noah Smith - BloombergChanges in contracts and rules could make the sector a lot more efficient.
The question of whether to
prioritize jobs or economic efficiency is always difficult. Nowhere is this more of a dilemma than in the construction industry.
In a world of rapid technological disruption, construction is a rock of solidity to which many blue-collar workers can cling. The industry still employs about 7 million workers in the U.S.
The job doesn’t change that much from decade to decade. It’s a big broad occupation, unlike social-media marketing or other new niche jobs, so it allows working-class people to minimize the time and effort they spend building for a career. And workers get trained on the job, without years of college.
What’s more, construction workers are
mostly male. To the degree this is a result of sexism, that’s bad. But it also means that the construction industry employs lots of men, at a time when they haven’t been doing so well in the jobs department.
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Noah Smith, Bloomberg
Burden Supporting Termination for Default
January 11, 2021 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesTerminating a contractor for default is a “‘drastic sanction’ and ‘should be imposed (or sustained) only for good grounds and on solid evidence.’” Cherokee General Corp. v. U.S., 150 Fed.Cl. 270, 278 (Fed.Cl. 2020) (citation omitted). This is true with any termination for default because terminating a contract for default is the harshest recourse that can be taken under a contract. It is a caused-based termination. For this reason, the party terminating a contract for default needs to be in a position to carry its burden supporting the evidentiary basis in exercising the default-based (or caused-based) termination. Stated differently, the party terminating a contract for default needs to justify the reasonableness in terminating the contract for default.
A party looking to terminate a contract for default should smartly work with counsel to best position its justification in exercising the termination for default. Likewise, a contractor terminated for default should immediately work with counsel to best position the unreasonableness or the lack of justification for the default-based termination.
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David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at
dma@kirwinnorris.com
10-story Mass Timber 'Rocking' Frame Sails Through Seismic Shake Tests
June 19, 2023 —
Nadine M. Post - Engineering News-RecordA 10-story mass timber “rocking” frame, designed to be resilient enough to withstand powerful earthquakes with little or no structural damage, proved its worth May 9 during seismic simulations at the largest high-performance outdoor shake table, located at the University of California San Diego.
Reprinted courtesy of
Nadine M. Post, Engineering News-Record
Ms. Post may be contacted at postn@enr.com
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AI Systems and the Real Estate Industry
April 03, 2023 —
Robert G. Howard & Craig A. de Ridder - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogArtificial intelligence (AI) systems captured considerable attention with the release of a large language chatbot, ChatGPT, by OpenAI, in November of last year. On March 14, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4, a more powerful “multimodal” chatbot responding to both text and images. And, on March 21, Google launched its conversational computer program, Bard, to compete with GPT-4. These chatbots allow users to initiate detailed queries or requests and receive prompt responses in complete sentences. Users are not forced to scroll through a list of results like those produced by search engines and follow-up questions can be asked.
AI systems have been touted for many years and these new breakthroughs may drastically change the way that we create content.
Notwithstanding their unprecedented capabilities, AI systems can produce imperfect results. New chatbots, for example, can generate plausible-sounding but nonsensical, biased or false responses. Accordingly, heavy fact-checking is necessary. OpenAI has warned that ChatGPT is prone to filling in replies with incorrect data if there is not enough information available on the topic on the internet. Bard includes a website disclaimer that it “may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Google’s views.” On March 20, a breach at OpenAI allowed users to see other people’s chat histories before the service was shut down. Further, there is a real risk that courts will rule that certain content generated by these systems infringes the copyright or database rights of the owner of the materials and data that the technologies relied on. When entering into agreements with AI software providers, companies should also be concerned about
other risks, including misappropriation of data, security, confidentiality, privacy and third-party claims.
Reprinted courtesy of
Robert G. Howard, Pillsbury and
Craig A. de Ridder, Pillsbury
Mr. Howard may be contacted at robert.howard@pillsburylaw.com
Mr. de Ridder may be contacted at craig.deridder@pillsburylaw.com
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Partner Jonathan R. Harwood Obtained Summary Judgment in a Coverage Action Arising out of a Claim for Personal Injury
December 22, 2019 —
Jonathan R. Harwood - Traub Lieberman PerspectivesOn August 16, 2019, Traub Lieberman partner obtained summary judgment in a declaratory judgment action involving a claim for coverage for a personal injury action involving injuries suffered on a construction site. The plaintiff in the underlying action was performing excavation in a basement of a building in Manhattan so the owner could install a pool. During the course of the excavation plaintiff fell 13 feet from a plank, into the excavated pit, suffering serious injuries. Traub Lieberman’s client issued a CGL policy to the building owner and the insured sought coverage for the suit under that policy. The insurer denied coverage based on an endorsement to the policy that stated the insured could only contract directly with a specified general contractor. The plaintiff was an employee of a subcontractor and the insurer believed the insured had contracted directly with that unapproved subcontractor. The insured denied it had done, contending the subcontractor had been hired by the general contractor identified in the endorsement.
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Jonathan R. Harwood, Traub Lieberman
Mr. Harwood may be contacted at jharwood@tlsslaw.com
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