Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Insurer Not Responsible for Insured's Assignment of Policy Benefits

February 21, 2022 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The Florida Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's granting summary judgment to the insurer after failing to abide by an assignment to which it was not a party. Expert Inspections, LLC v. United Property & Cas. Ins. Co., 2022 Fla. App. LEXIS 88 (Fla. Ct. App. Jan. 5, 2022). The insured's property sustained damage from Hurricane Irma resulting in a covered loss. The insured retained Expert Inspections to perform mold-related services. As payment, the insured assigned her policy benefits pursuant to an assignment of benefits agreement. Under the agreement, the insured agreed to cooperate with the assignee to ensure that payments were made by the insurer upon completion of work. The insured gave authority to the assignee to endorse any checks with her name listed on the check. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Seattle Council May Take a New Look at Micro-Housing

April 15, 2015 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, “there’s remorse at [Seattle, Washington’s] City Hall over last year’s controversial decision to make it more onerous and costly to build ultra-affordable micro-housing.” City Council President Tim Burgess stated that the council “may ‘very well’ take up the micro-housing issue again as it works with Mayor Ed Murray on a long-term program to develop more housing.” This comes after Murray “announced a goal of building and preserving 50,000 housing units over the next 10 years.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of

Pulled from the Swamp: EPA Wetland Determination Now Judicially Reviewable

September 15, 2016 — CDJ STAFF
Landowners and developers bogged in an EPA wetland determination were recently thrown a life line when the United States Supreme Court determined The Army Corps of Engineer’s (Corps) “jurisdictional determinations” (JD) regarding wetland designations are reviewable by the court. United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. Inc. Under the Clean Water Act (CWA) landowners and developers who do not have the proper permits can face severe criminal and civil penalties for releasing any pollutant into “the waters of the United States.” Anybody stuck wading through the permitting process will tell you it is difficult, time consuming, expensive, and may eventually prohibit the intended use of the property. Furthermore, there is yet to be a consensus on the definition or scope of the term “waters of the US”. Consequently, a landowners or developers may never be certain whether a permit is necessary before conducting any activity that may discharge a pollutant into a “water of the United States”. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Sean Minahan, Lamson, Dugan and Murray, LLP
Mr. Minahan may be contacted at sminahan@ldmlaw.com

No Coverage for Building's First Collapse, But Disputed Facts on Second Collapse

January 10, 2018 — Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law Hawaii

While building's first collapse was not covered, there were disputed facts regarding the second collapse, leading to a reversal of the order granting summary judgment to the insurer on both collapses. Intergroup Int'l Ltd. v. Cincinnati Ins. Cos, 2017 Ohio app. LEXIS 5099 (Ohio Ct. App. Nov. 22, 2017). Intergroup bought a building after it was inspected. While leaks on the roof were repaired and a roof truss that was sagging was replaced, the inspector found the roof to be in good shape.

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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii

Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

New York Appellate Team Obtains Affirmance of Dismissal of Would-Be Labor Law Action Against Municipal Entities

August 12, 2024 — Lewis Brisbois Newsroom
New York, N.Y. (July 11, 2024) - In Charlot v. City of New York, ___ A.D.3d ___, 2024 NY Slip Op 03161 (2d Dep’t 2024), New York Associate Dean Pillarella, a member of the Appellate Practice, recently obtained an affirmance of the lower court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s action against the City of New York (“the City”) for failure to timely serve a notice of claim. New York Partner Meghan Cavalieri, a member of the Construction Practice, and her team authored and argued the initial motion to dismiss. The plaintiff alleged to have sustained injuries as a result of a construction-site accident on December 8, 2020, on City-owned property in the course of the construction of a school by the New York City School Construction Authority. N.Y. General Municipal Law (“GML”) § 50-e(1)(a), requires service of a notice of claim within 90 days after the claim arises as a condition precedent to the commencement of a tort action. The plaintiff served no notice of claim until June 2021 and commenced an action in January 2022, alleging violations of N.Y. Labor Law §§ 240(1), 241(6), and 200. Given the plaintiff’s failure to comply with GML § 50-e(1)(a), Meghan and her team rejected the notices of claim as untimely. The plaintiff then moved for leave to deem the notices of claim timely served nunc pro tunc. In response, Meghan and her team opposed the motion and cross-moved to dismiss the action. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

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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Pre-Covid Construction Contracts Unworkable as Costs Surge, Webuild Says

October 17, 2022 — Angus Whitley - Bloomberg
Infrastructure construction contracts signed before the pandemic have become widely unworkable because of the surging cost of labor and materials, supply-chain blockages and difficulties in securing manpower, according to builder Webuild SpA. Milan-based Webuild is wrestling with a 2019 agreement with the Australian government to construct the country’s largest hydroelectric power station for A$5.1 billion ($3.2 billion). It’s meant to be completed by 2026. The Snowy 2.0 project, in the Snowy mountains about six hours’ drive south of Sydney, has come to highlight the challenges of completing large-scale projects on terms that were struck before Covid-19, and before Russia invaded Ukraine. Webuild’s Asia-Pacific director, Marco Assorati, said the value of the Snowy contract, as well as certain other parameters, need to be changed to reflect the current market. He declined to comment specifically on media reports that the consortium has asked the Australian government for an extra A$2.2 billion to complete the work and that the project is 18 months behind schedule. “It is challenging,” Assorati said. “I think clients understand this conversation must happen and there must be a way to cope with unforeseen increases in cost,” Assorati said. “It’s not needed only on the Snowy project. It’s affecting projects everywhere globally.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Angus Whitley, Bloomberg

Whose Lease Is It Anyway: Physical Occupancy Not Required in Landlord-Tenant Dispute

February 07, 2018 — Afua Akoto – SDV Case Alert
In September 2017, a Texas Federal district judge ruled that that Personal and Advertising Injury coverage in a CGL policy did not require physical occupancy in a landlord-tenant dispute. In the underlying lawsuit, restaurant owner Ziggy Gruber alleged that John Dunn, the landlord of a Houston shopping center, wrongfully interfered with his right of occupancy at the shopping center by failing to complete the negotiation of a lease and preventing his occupancy of the space. Gruber further alleged that he had acquired a direct interest in the premises and became a rightful tenant but as a result of Dunn’s interference, he was never able to open his restaurant. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Afua Akoto, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Ms. Akoto may be contacted at asa@sdvlaw.com

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