Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Congratulations to BWB&O for Ranking in The U.S. News – Best Lawyers ® as “Best Law Firms”!

November 19, 2021 — Dolores Montoya - Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara LLP
Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara, LLP is proud to announce the firm has once again been regionally ranked by The U.S. News – Best Lawyers® with a “Best Law Firms” recognition in two practice areas, Family Law and Commercial Litigation. BWB&O is also honored to be included among many elite and extremely impressive groups of law firms! To read the Twelfth Edition of the “Best Law Firms” rankings, please click here. Best Lawyers has a prominent reputation for being the most respected peer-review publication in the history of the legal profession. The “Best Law Firms” rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process, which includes a combination of client feedback, information provided on the Law Firm Survey, the Law Firm Leaders Survey, and Best Lawyers peer review. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Dolores Montoya, Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara LLP

Construction Employers Beware: New, Easier Union Representation Process

October 17, 2023 — Natale V. DiNatale - Robinson+Cole
This week we are pleased to have a guest post by Robinson+Cole Labor Relations Group chair Natale V. DiNatale. The NLRB has reversed decades of precedent and made it far easier for unions to represent employees, including construction employers, without a secret ballot election. Initially, it is important to understand that this new standard applies to traditional “9(a)” relationships, not prehire agreements under 8(f) of the NLRA. While both types of relationships exist in the construction industry, 9(a) relationships require support from a majority of employees, while prehire agreements do not and tend to be project specific. The NLRB’s new standard (announced in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, 372 NLRB No. 130 (2023)) emphasizes union authorization cards that are gathered by union officials and union activists who often employ high-pressure tactics to obtain a signature. Employees often sign authorization cards without the benefit of understanding the significance of the cards. Even if they don’t want a union, they may sign because they feel pressured by a coworker, don’t want to offend a colleague, or want to avoid being bothered. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Natale V. DiNatale, Robinson+Cole
Mr. DiNatale may be contacted at ndinatale@rc.com

Another Colorado Construction Defect Reform Bill Dies

May 07, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
Colorado 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.” Read the court decision
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Lewis Brisbois Ranks 11th in Law360’s Glass Ceiling Report on Gender Parity in Law Firms

October 11, 2021 — Lewis Brisbois
Lewis Brisbois has ranked 11th in Law360’s 2021 Glass Ceiling report, moving up from 37th place in 2020. The report measures female presence and gender parity in law firms, this year evaluating 269 organizations. As described in the Law360 Pulse article titled "Glass Ceiling Report: How Does Your Firm Stack Up?," the publication redesigned its report this year to evaluate female attorneys’ industry standing from a new angle by showing how the percentage of women across three levels within law firms compared with the potential marketplace of hires. This evaluation resulted in the firms’ "pipeline scores," which measure a firm’s percentage points above or below a set of benchmarks assembled with data from the American Bar Association and previous Law360 submissions. Lewis Brisbois’ Los Angeles Co-Managing Partner Jana Lubert and Chief Strategy Officer Janet Eskow, the co-chairs of Lewis Brisbois' Women's Initiative, each expressed excitement about the report, along with resolve to further promote gender diversity. "We are proud that Lewis Brisbois has moved up in these rankings because we have focused diligently on hiring and retaining the best legal talent from a diverse pool of candidates nationwide," Ms. Lubert said. "At the same time, we recognize that there is more to be done to further improve gender equity and inclusion. We remain committed to this important goal, both as it pertains to Lewis Brisbois and to the entire legal industry," she added. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

Development in CBF Green Building Case in Maryland

August 19, 2015 — Christopher G. Hill – Construction Law Musings
Remember that case I discussed a while back relating to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) building in Annapolis, Maryland? Remember how it was a lawsuit over parallams and failure of those parallams? Do you even remember what a parallam is? Well, that case was initially dismissed upon the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment because the trial court determined that CBF did not file its lawsuit within the proper time frame after notice of the potential failure of the building materials. Of course, CBF appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals under the caption The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., et. al. v. Weyerhaeuser Company (4th Circuit). After a great review of the facts of the case, the engineering inspections and reports at issue and the trial court’s ruling, the Fourth Circuit vacated the dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings. The Court of Appeals reasoned that the district court jumped the gun in dismissing the lawsuit so early in the process because:

a genuine dispute exists as to whether knowledge of the water infiltration problem would have put a reasonable person on notice that the Parallams were susceptible to premature deterioration and that their PolyClear 2000 treatment would not preserve them.

In short, the court ruled that the engineering reports relating to moisture issues would have put CBF on notice of the particular issue of deterioration that was at issue in the litigation. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Christopher G. Hill, Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PC
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Red Tape Is Holding Up a Greener Future

March 13, 2023 — The Editors - Bloomberg
Seven months on, Democrats are still celebrating the Inflation Reduction Act, even though a crucial determinant of its success — permitting reform for energy projects — remains undone. Recent data shows just how imperative it is for them to stop dragging their feet. What’s now called the IRA had little to do with inflation. It was a climate bill, and a big one: It provided $370 billion to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions and smooth the path to a clean-power economy. It came on top of a 70% surge in private investment since 2017. But the biggest impediment to the US energy transition isn’t financing: It’s building. A decade ago, between 25% and 30% of proposed wind and solar projects moved from the drawing boards to completion. But as new projects and new funding have soared, utilities have been unable to keep up, leading to an immense backlog. A recent report by BloombergNEF found that over just six years, global clean-energy investment has gone from half the level of fossil-fuel investment to near parity, an extraordinary leap that reflects the market’s appetite for clean power. Yet America’s dysfunctional regulation is preventing many needed projects from even breaking ground. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of The Editors, Bloomberg

Disappointment on an Olympian Scale After Rio 2016 Summer Games

February 23, 2017 — Augusto Diniz, O Empreiteiro - Engineering News-Record
The single word to describe the sports infrastructure created for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is abandonment. Uncertainty over the future of the dilapidated sports stadiums and arenas threatens the legacy of the Olympics, which ended five months ago. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Augusto Diniz, O Empreiteiro, ENR
ENR may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com

Second Circuit Finds Potential Ambiguity in Competing “Anti-Concurrent Cause” Provisions in Hurricane Sandy Property Loss

November 28, 2018 — CDJ STAFF
The Second Circuit recently held that competing “anti-concurrent cause” provisions in a commercial property policy present a potential ambiguity that could result in favor of coverage for losses sustained by Madelaine Chocolate after storm surge from Hurricane Sandy combined to cause substantial damage to Madelaine’s property and a resulting loss of income. Madelaine was insured under an all-risk insurance policy issued by Chubb subsidiary Great Northern Insurance Company. By endorsement, Madelaine’s policy added “windstorm” as a covered peril and defined “windstorm” as “wind… regardless of any other cause or event that directly or indirectly contributes concurrently to, or contributed in any sequence to, the loss or damage.” The policy also included a common flood exclusion that removed coverage for loss or damage caused by or resulting from waves, tidal water, or tidal waves, or the rising, overflowing, or breaking of any natural harbors, oceans, or any other body of water, whether driven by wind or not. Like the windstorm endorsement, the flood exclusion contained concurrency language that broadened the exclusion to any loss to which flood contributed, regardless of any other cause or event that directly or indirectly contributed to the loss. Reprinted courtesy of Michael S. Levine, Hunton Andrews Kurth and Tae Andrews, Hunton Andrews Kurth Mr. Levine may be contacted at mlevine@HuntonAK.com Mr. Andrews may be contacted at tandrews@HuntonAK.com Read the court decision
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FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES