SEATTLE WASHINGTON BUILDING EXPERT
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

New Illinois Supreme Court Trigger Rule for CGL Personal Injury “Offenses” Could Have Costly Consequences for Policyholders

March 09, 2020 — Michael S. Levine & Kevin V. Small - Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog
The Illinois Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sanders v. Illinois Union Insurance Co., 2019 IL 124565 (2019), announced the standard for triggering general liability coverage for malicious prosecution claims under Illinois law. In its decision, the court construed what appears to be a policy ambiguity against the policyholder in spite of the longstanding rule of contra proferentem, limiting coverage to policies in place at the time of the wrongful prosecution, and not the policies in effect when the final element of the tort of malicious prosecution occurred (i.e. the exoneration of the plaintiff). The net result of the court’s ruling for policyholders susceptible to such claims is that coverage for jury verdicts for malicious prosecution – awarded in today’s dollars – is limited to the coverage procured at the time of the wrongful prosecution, which may (as in this case) be decades old. Such a scenario can have costly consequences for policyholders given that the limits procured decades ago are often inadequate due to the ever-increasing awards by juries as well as inflation. Moreover, it may be difficult to locate the legacy policies and the insurers that issued such policies may no longer be solvent or even exist. A copy of the decision can be found here. The Sanders case arose out of the wrongful conviction of Rodell Sanders in 1994 by the City of Chicago Heights (the “City”). Mr. Sanders sought recompense for, among other things, malicious prosecution through a federal civil rights action against the City. In September 2016, Mr. Sanders obtained a consent judgment for $15 Million; however, at the time of the wrongful conviction, seventeen years earlier, the City’s only applicable insurance policy provided just $3 million in coverage. The City contributed another $2 million towards the judgment and, in exchange for Mr. Sanders’s agreement not to seek the $10 million balance from the City, assigned its rights under the policies for the 2012 to 2014 period. Reprinted courtesy of Michael S. Levine, Hunton Andrews Kurth and Kevin V. Small, Hunton Andrews Kurth Mr. Levine may be contacted at mlevine@HuntonAK.com Mr. Small may be contacted at ksmall@HuntonAK.com Read the court decision
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Your Work Exclusion Applies to Damage to Tradesman's Property, Not Damage to Other Property

March 30, 2016 — Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law Hawaii
The New Mexico Court of Appeals presented a cogent analysis of claims for construction defects and the application of the "your work" exclusion under a CGL policy in Pulte Homes of New Mexico, Inc. v. Indiana Lumbermens Ins. Co., 2015 N.M. App. LEXIS 134 (N. M. Ct. App. Dec. 17, 2015). Pulte built 107 homes. Pulte contracted with 'Western Building Supply (WBS) to provide windows and sliding glass doors for the homes. Pulte was named as an additional insured under WBS's policy with Lumbermens (ILM). In 2007, a large group of homeowners sued Pulte, alleging numerous construction defects in their homes. Among the defects were windows that leaked and sliding glass doors that stuck and did not close completely. Many of the homeowners arbitrated their claims against Pulte. In May 2009, Pulte tendered its first demand for a defense to ILM. The arbitration award against Pulte found that windows and doors did not operate properly and had been replaced by Pulte. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

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The Biggest Thing Keeping Young Homebuyers out of the Market Isn't Student Debt

September 17, 2015 — Patrick Clark – Bloomberg
Conventional wisdom has it that the staggering student debt incurred by the current generation of young professionals has made it harder to save for a home—and deprived the U.S. housing market of the first-time buyer lifeblood it depends on. But not so fast. A blog post published by Zillow today shows that student-loan debt has little impact on the homebuying prospects of young families. This is not the first report to poke holes in the student-debt-holding-back-home-ownership theory, but Zillow's research makes its point by limiting the data to married couples in their early-30s with at least one child. The idea was to cut out the student debtors who don't own homes because they haven't yet started a family and attempt to isolate the effect of student debt on home ownership. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Patrick Clark, Bloomberg

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Wall Failure Due to Construction Defect Says Insurer

October 09, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
A wall built by J. F. Smith Construction collapsed during Hurricane Isaac, and Bankers Insurance Group is blaming the builder not the hurricane. The insurer claims that if the wall had been built properly it would have withstood the storm. The suit is being filed in the Louisiana courts. Bankers Insurance is seeking $49,625.25 in damages. Read the court decision
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NIBS Consultative Council Issues Moving Forward Report on Healthy Buildings

July 25, 2021 — National Institute of Building Sciences
(WASHINGTON, DC, July 13, 2021) – The National Institute of Building Sciences Consultative Council has issued its 2020 Moving Forward Report, looking closely at the importance of healthy buildings. The report examines how buildings can protect and promote public health, providing recommendations for President Biden and policymakers on three components of healthy buildings: indoor environmental quality, the importance of design in promoting health, and promoting knowledge transfer between building owners and public health officials. “Ensuring that the spaces where we live and work are healthy and safe for continued occupancy is critical to overcoming the pandemic,” said Lakisha A. Woods, CAE, President and CEO of NIBS. “This is a fundamental pillar of public health and community resilience. The concept of healthy buildings goes well beyond continual sanitation of a building’s indoor environment to eliminate pathogens.” About NIBS National Institute of Building Sciences brings together labor and consumer interests, government representatives, regulatory agencies, and members of the building industry to identify and resolve problems and potential problems around the construction of housing and commercial buildings. NIBS is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization. It was established by Congress in 1974. For more information, visit nibs.org or follow @bldgsciences on Twitter and Facebook. Read the court decision
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Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (08/15/23) – Manufacturing Soars with CHIPS Act, New Threats to U.S. Infrastructure and AI Innovation for One Company

September 25, 2023 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, wildfires wreak havoc in Maui, JLL unveils an AI specifically for commercial real estate, the lasting effects of the CHIPS ACT, and more!

• So far, 11,000 JLL employees have used the company’s new proprietary large language model that has generative AI capabilities specifically for the commercial real estate industry. (Lindsey Wilkinson, Construction Dive)
• Since the enactment of the CHIPS Act, manufacturing activity has boomed with a nearly 80% increase from June 2022. (Sebastian Obando and Julia Himmel, Construction Dive)
• Construction-tech-focused investors among others have poured $35 million into an Israeli startup that develops leakage detection technology using artificial intelligence to prevent water damage. (Sharon Wrobel, Times of Israel)

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Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

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Colorado “occurrence”

January 06, 2012 — CDCoverage.com

In Greystone Construction, Inc. v. National Fire & Marine Insurance Co., No. 09-1412 (10th Cir. November 1, 2011), general contractors Greystone and Branan were each sued by purchases of homes built by each alleging defective construction performed by subcontractors. CGL insurer American Family Mutual Insurance Company defended both Greystone and Brannon while co-insurer National Fire & Marine Insurance Company denied a defense. Greystone, Branan, and American Family sued National Fire for contribution towards defense costs. The federal district trial court entered summary judgment for National Fire.

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Reprinted courtesy of CDCoverage.com

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The Quiet War Between California’s Charter Cities and the State’s Prevailing Wage Law

April 20, 2016 — Garret Murai – California Construction Law Blog
Behind the scenes a quiet war is raging. A war pitting local sovereignty, on one hand, against a Depression-era law intended to help those working on state and local public works projects, on the other. California’s Prevailing Wage Law Beginning in 1929 and continuing through the late 1930s, the Great Depression is widely considered to be the longest, most widespread depression of the 20th century. In 1931, the federal government enacted the Davis-Bacon Act to help workers on federal construction projects. The Davis-Bacon Act, also known as the federal prevailing wage law, sets minimum wages that must be paid to workers on federal construction projects based on local “prevailing” wages. The law was designed to help curb the displacement of families by employers who were recruiting lower-wage workers from outside local areas. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@wendel.com

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