2023 Executive Insights From Leaders in Construction Law
June 12, 2023 —
Construction ExecutiveIf a major project is interrupted or canceled, are there any laws that provide protection for unpaid contractors that have performed work?
Angela Richie
Partner, Co-Chair, Construction Practice Group
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani
With the current volatility and uncertainty in the economy, project interruptions and cancellations are on the rise; hence, you need to take steps now to make sure you have a method to get paid for the work you have performed.
For private projects, make sure you have followed the pre-lien notification requirements for the state in which the project is located before you start work, if they are required. Then, be sure to follow the lien notice and lien filing requirements for the state. Each state is different, so you want to be ready with the appropriate documentation in advance of the project interruption or cancellation.
Reprinted courtesy of
Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
New York Bars Developers from Selling Condos due to CD Fraud Case
October 15, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFAccording to GlobeSt, New York “Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has announced a settlement agreement that bars developers Joseph Scarpinito and Shiraz Sanjana—and five affiliated entities they own and operate—from offering or selling securities, including condo and coop sales, in or from New York State.”
The settlement is in “result of an investigation by the Attorney General’s real estate finance bureau into allegations of fraud by the developers of the Mirada, an eight-story Harlem condominium.” GlobeSt also stated that the agreement “provides for binding arbitration with the condo purchasers for alleged construction defects, and requires the developers to pay $500,000 in penalties and fines to New York State.”
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
New York’s 2022 Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act: Significant Amendments to the C.P.L.R.
January 17, 2022 —
Ellen H. Greiper & Kristen Carroll - Lewis BrisboisNew York, N.Y. (January 4, 2022) - On December 31, 2021, New York State Governor Hochul signed into law the Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act.
The alleged justification for the act was to reduce the use of “delaying tactics” by compelling disclosure of the complete primary, excess, and umbrella policies implicated by the claim.
These amendments will be unduly onerous on both carriers and defense counsel—for a multitude of reasons. It imposes an obligation on the insurer to immediately identify excess policies, eroding policies, and other information or contracts that affect the available coverage.
Reprinted courtesy of
Ellen H. Greiper, Lewis Brisbois and
Kristen Carroll, Lewis Brisbois
Ms. Greiper may be contacted at Ellen.Greiper@lewisbrisbois.com
Ms. Carroll may be contacted at Kristen.Carroll@lewisbrisbois.com
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
America’s Infrastructure Gets a C-. It’s an Improvement Though
April 05, 2021 —
Garret Murai - California Construction Law BlogEvery four years the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) issues a report card assigning a letter grade to the nation’s infrastructure. ASCE issued their 2021 Infrastructure Report Card earlier this month.
Our country’s grade in 2021? A disappointing C-.
It’s an improvement though. When ASCE issued their 2017 Infrastructure Report Card we didn’t even pass the class with a grade of D+.
In short, there’s room for improvement. A lot of room for improvement.
C- is just the cumulative grade however. ASCE’s Report Card is divided into industry segments with grades assigned to each segment. Individual grades for some, but not all, of the segments include the following:
- Aviation: The nation’s airports received a grade of D+. According to the Report Card, terminal, gate and ramp availability are not meeting the needs of a growing passenger base which has increased from 964.7 million to 1.2 billion per year and a has a 10-year shortfall of $111 billion.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Garret Murai, Nomos LLPMr. Murai may be contacted at
gmurai@nomosllp.com
Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Asbestos Exclusion in Alleged Failure to Disclose Case
January 22, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFIn the case Phillips v. Parmelee, the Wisconsin Supreme court ruled “that an asbestos exclusion in a liability policy barred a duty to defend and indemnify a building seller for claims that the seller failed to disclose that the building contained asbestos,” according to an article in Mondaq by Ruth S. Kochenderfer and Deanna P. Cook, both from Steptoe & Johnson LLP. The policyholder received a building report stating that the “heating ducts likely contained asbestos,” however, the buyers alleged that the policyholder never provided them the report. After the buyers purchased the property, contractors “cut through the heating ducts, unknowingly dispersing asbestos throughout the building.”
According to Kochenderfer and Cook’s article, “The insurer intervened in the buyers' suit and sought summary judgment against the policyholder and buyers, arguing that an asbestos exclusion precluded coverage for the buyers' suit against the policyholder.” The buyers took the case to the Wisconsin Supreme court and “attacked the asbestos exclusion,” but the court rejected every argument.
Kochenderfer and Cook stated that the “decision is significant because three courts, including Wisconsin's highest court, squarely rejected attempts to narrow a broad, clearly-worded asbestos exclusion. Further, it confirms that such an asbestos exclusion will apply to all causes of action, including an alleged failure to disclose the presence of asbestos.”
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
HHMR Celebrates 20 Years of Service!
October 18, 2021 —
David M. McLain – Colorado Construction LitigationI remember it (almost) like it was yesterday. It was September of 2001, and I was a third-year associate at Long & Jaudon, practicing with the construction litigation group. After a long weekend away, I received word that the firm had just announced that it would cease providing legal services. Long & Jaudon, which formed in 1967, had been a stalwart of Colorado’s defense bar, counting among its number some of the finest and most well-respected defense attorneys in the state. To learn that the firm would be shutting its doors was devastating. I would be out of a job.
Soon after L&J’s announcement, Dave Higgins, one of that firm’s senior partners, inquired as to whether I would be interested in starting a new firm focused on supporting Colorado’s construction industry and its insurers. Instead of riding into the sunset of retirement, Dave wanted to leave a legacy. That legacy is Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell. Shortly after the sprout of the idea, I spent an afternoon at a picnic table in Cheesman Park with Dave Higgins, Steve Hopkins, and Sheri Roswell, sketching out an idea for a new law firm. Twenty years later, HHMR is still here, still serving Colorado’s construction industry and its insurers, and still embodying the principles of service and stewardship upon which the firm was founded.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
David McLain, Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & RoswellMr. McLain may be contacted at
mclain@hhmrlaw.com
New York Appellate Division Reverses Denial of Landlord’s Additional Insured Tender
December 07, 2020 —
Eric D. Suben - Traub LiebermanIn Wesco Insurance Co. v. Travelers Property & Cas. Co. of America, 2020 WL 6572489 (1st Dep’t Nov. 10, 2020), the New York Appellate Division found that a commercial landlord was owed additional insured coverage in connection with an incident in which a plaintiff slipped and fell on the sidewalk while exiting the leased premises.
The tenant, Capital One, was the named insured in a CGL policy issued by Travelers. The policy added the landlord as an additional insured, but “only with respect to liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of that part of the premises leased to [Capital One] and shown in the Schedule.” The lease defined the demised premises to include the building and “all appurtenances.”
Travelers denied the landlord’s tender on the basis that the sidewalk did not constitute “that part of the premises leased to” Capital One. In the ensuing declaratory judgment action brought by Wesco (the landlord’s insurer), the court granted Travelers’ motion for summary judgment on this ground.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Eric D. Suben, Traub LiebermanMr. Suben may be contacted at
esuben@tlsslaw.com
Colorado Supreme Court Grants the Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Vallagio v. Metropolitan Homes
June 22, 2016 —
David M. McLain – Colorado Construction LitigationWe have previously reported on the Vallagio v. Metropolitan Homes case, in which the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld a provision in an association's declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, which required declarant consent before an arbitration provision could be amended out of the document. To read the past articles on the case, please review
Vallagio v. Metropolitan Homes: The Colorado Court of Appeals' Decision Protecting a Declarant’s Right to Arbitration in Construction Defect Cases and
The Vallagio HOA Appeals the Decision from the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Today, the Colorado Supreme Court granted the association's petition for writ of certiorari, en banc, on the following reframed issues:
Whether the court of appeals erred by holding as a matter of first impression that Colorado’s Common Interest Ownership Act (“CCIOA”) permits a developer-declarant to reserve the power to veto unit owner votes to amend common interest community declarations.
Read the court decisionRead the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
David M. McClain, Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLCMr. McClain may be contacted at
mclain@hhmrlaw.com