Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Kahana Feld Partner Noelle Natoli Named President of Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles

October 07, 2024 — Linda Carter - Kahana Feld
LOS ANGELES – Sep. 16, 2024 – Kahana Feld is pleased to announce that partner Noelle Natoli was recently installed as the 2024-25 president of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (WLALA). The mission of WLALA is to promote the full participation in the legal profession of women lawyers and judges from diverse perspectives and backgrounds, maintain the integrity of our legal system by advocating principles of fairness and equality, and improve the status of women by supporting their exercise of equal rights. Natoli is a partner based in Kahana Feld’s Los Angeles office and focuses her civil trial practice on the defense of both insurers and insureds primarily in the areas of elder abuse, transportation defense, and general liability. Her clients include individuals, family-owned businesses, and national corporations. Natoli also chairs the Diversity & Inclusion Committee for the Trucking Industry Defense Association and serves as a board member of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Linda Carter, Kahana Feld
Ms. Carter may be contacted at lcarter@kahanafeld.com

Don’t Get Caught Holding the Bag: Hold the State Liable When General Contractor Fails to Pay on a Public Project.

January 31, 2018 — Sean Minahan – Construction Contract Advisor
According to a quick Google search the term “holding the bag” comes from the mid eighteenth century and means be left with the onus of what was originally another’s responsibility. Nobody wants to be left holding the bag. But that is the situation our client (subcontractor) found themselves in when upon completion of a public project the general contractor went out of business before paying the remaining amount due and owing to our client. Under Nebraska law, liens are not allowed against public projects. Instead the subcontractor is to make a claim on the payment and performance bond secured by the general contractor at the start of the project. In our case, the general contractor never secured a bond on which to make a claim; consequently, leaving our client holding the bag. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Sean Minaham, Lamson, Dugan and Murrary, LLP
Mr. Minahan may be contacted at sminahan@ldmlaw.com

Housing Starts Plunge by the Most in Four Years

May 20, 2015 — Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Housing starts plummeted in February by the most since 2011 as plunging temperatures and snow became the latest hurdles for an industry struggling to recover. Work began on 897,000 houses at an annualized rate, down 17 percent from January and the fewest in a year, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday in Washington. The pace was slower than the most pessimistic projection in a Bloomberg survey of 81 economists. “Today’s report leaves me a little concerned,” said Michelle Meyer, deputy head of U.S. economics at Bank of America Corp. in New York. “While the initial reaction is to dismiss much of the drop because of the bad weather, the level of home construction continues to be depressed.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Bloomberg News

Will Superusers Future-Proof the AEC Industry?

May 13, 2019 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
Design professionals who leverage tools and technology and, at the same time, have people skills, are essential to the future of the industry. They are Superusers, the protagonists of the latest book by Randy Deutsch. Randy Deutsch is an architect, educator, workshop leader, writer, and international keynote speaker. I had a chance to interview him about his book, Superusers: Design Technology Specialists and the Future of Practice. First, I was curious to know why he chose this topic for his fourth book. He explains: “Right now, it made a lot of sense to focus on the individual, not focus on collaboration and building teams, and really define what each individual team member should be.” Who Are Superusers? IT, technology, and tool specialists are typically experts in a relatively narrow field. Designers, especially architects, must have a wider perspective. Superusers are design technologists; liaisons between business needs and technology solutions. They demonstrate certain skillsets and mindsets. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

Dozens Missing in LA as High Winds Threaten to Spark More Fires

January 14, 2025 — Laura Curtis & Brian K Sullivan - Bloomberg
Hot, dry winds are pummeling Los Angeles and surrounding areas of Southern California, raising wildfire risks through at least Wednesday as the region reels from blazes that have killed at least 24 people and burned neighborhoods to the ground. Tropical-storm-strength winds were raking the mountains around LA on Tuesday, with gusts reaching 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour. About 2 million people face extreme fire conditions across a swath of land that includes Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, according to the US Storm Prediction Center. Red-flag fire warnings extend south to San Diego. Reprinted courtesy of Laura Curtis, Bloomberg and Brian K Sullivan, Bloomberg Read the court decision
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Autovol’s Affordable Housing Project with Robotic Automation

February 15, 2021 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
Just over two years since breaking ground, Autovol is now using automation in new ways as it nears completion of its first major affordable housing project. The project, Virginia Street Studios, will make high-quality apartment homes more affordable to seniors in San Jose, one of America’s 10 most expensive cities. The 400,000 square foot Autovol factory has now successfully deployed its unique combination of construction trades and robotic automation. Autovol has hired more than 100 employees, which the company calls Solutioneers. Led by CEO Rick Murdock and co-developed by The Pacific Companies, Autovol is pioneering a new kind of modular construction. Robotics lead into the future of housing “Automation and robotics will lead the world into the future of housing,” Murdock said. “What we’re doing hasn’t been attempted before. Our investors and Solutioneers leaned in with lots of confidence, and now we’re seeing great results that prove they were right.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

Toll Brothers Named #1 Home Builder on Fortune Magazine's 2023 World's Most Admired Companies® List

February 06, 2023 — Toll Brothers, Inc.
FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., Feb. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL) (www.TollBrothers.com), the nation's leading builder of luxury homes, has been named the #1 Most Admired Home Builder in the 2023 Fortune magazine survey of the World's Most Admired Companies, the eighth year the company has achieved this honor. To determine the best-regarded companies, Fortune and its partner Korn Ferry conducted the 2023 survey with 645 of the world's highest-revenue companies across 52 industries and 27 countries. Executives, directors, and Wall Street analysts were asked to rate companies in their own industries on nine criteria, ranging from investment value, financial soundness and quality of management, to quality of products, innovation, social responsibility and people management. "We are proud to once again be honored as the #1 Home Builder on the Fortune World's Most Admired Companies list," said Douglas C. Yearley, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Toll Brothers. "All of us at Toll Brothers are focused on upholding our reputation for quality, value, and service built over the past 56 years. I would like to thank every Toll Brothers employee for their commitment to excellence and to serving our customers. We appreciate this tremendous recognition within the home building industry and the larger business community." ABOUT TOLL BROTHERS Toll Brothers, Inc., a Fortune 500 Company, is the nation's leading builder of luxury homes. The Company was founded 56 years ago in 1967 and became a public company in 1986. Its common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TOL." The Company serves first-time, move-up, empty-nester, active-adult, and second-home buyers, as well as urban and suburban renters. Toll Brothers builds in over 60 markets in 24 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington, as well as in the District of Columbia. The Company operates its own architectural, engineering, mortgage, title, land development, golf course development, smart home technology, and landscape subsidiaries. The Company also operates its own lumber distribution, house component assembly, and manufacturing operations. Read the court decision
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Subcontractors Found Liable to Reimburse Insurer Defense Costs in Equitable Subrogation Action

August 03, 2020 — Christopher Kendrick & Valerie A. Moore – Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP
In Pulte Home Corp. v. CBR Electric, Inc. (No. E068353, filed 6/10/20), a California appeals court reversed the denial of an equitable subrogation claim for reimbursement of defense costs from contractually obligated subcontractors to a defending insurer, finding that all of the elements for equitable subrogation were met, and the equities tipped in favor of the insurer. After defending the general contractor, Pulte, in two construction defect actions as an additional insured on a subcontractor’s policy, St. Paul sought reimbursement of defense costs solely on an equitable subrogation theory against six subcontractors that had worked on the underlying construction projects, and whose subcontracts required them to defend Pulte in suits related to their work. After a bench trial, the trial court denied St. Paul’s claim, concluding that St. Paul had not demonstrated that it was fair to shift all of the defense costs to the subcontractors because their failure to defend Pulte had not caused the homeowners to bring the construction defect actions. The appeals court reversed, holding that the trial court misconstrued the law governing equitable subrogation. Because the relevant facts were not in dispute, the appeals court reviewed the case de novo and found that the trial court committed error in its denial of reimbursement for the defense fees. The appeals court found two errors: First, the trial court incorrectly concluded that equitable subrogation requires shifting of the entire loss. Second, the trial court applied a faulty causation analysis – that because the non-defending subcontractors had not caused the homeowners to sue Pulte, thereby necessitating a defense, St. Paul could not meet the elements of equitable subrogation. 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 Read the court decision
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