Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Are We Having Fun Yet? Construction In a Post-COVID World (Law Note)

June 20, 2022 — Melissa Dewey Brumback - Construction Law in North Carolina
Remember how I said to never assume? Yeah, about that…… even when you plan for failures, mistakes, and other problems, sometimes things get so outside the realm of what you considered that it can leave your construction project spinning. Take, as a random example, a world-wide pandemic that shuts down supply chains, shuts down job sites, and limits the labor pool. Just as an example. What does construction law say about pandemics? They fall under an “Act of God” that you may have read about in your contracts, or in the contracts of the contractors working your projects. An “Act of God” is an event that is not foreseeable, and as such not something the parties could have anticipated when they drafted the contract. Acts of God generally excuse a party’s failure– for example, a contractor’s failure to complete the project on time can be excused when an “act of God” has occurred. By now, you’ve dealt with the practical fall out, one way or another. Many projects no longer made financial sense for your clients. Others may have been modified, reduced in scope, or had substitute materials put in place. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Melissa Dewey Brumback, Ragsdale Liggett
Ms. Brumback may be contacted at mbrumback@rl-law.com

2019 California Construction Law Update

January 15, 2019 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
The California State Legislature introduced 2,637 bills during the second year fo the 2017-2018 Legislative Session. Of these, 1,016 were signed into law. It was last official bill signing for Governor Jerry Brown who ends not only his second term as Governor but a colorful political career spanning nearly 50 years during which he has dated pop stars, practiced Zen meditation, kicked it with radical ex-nuns and an Apollo astronaut and, at 80, has sparred regularly with President Trump on issues ranging from climate change to immigration to net neutrality. For those in the construction industry it wasn’t quite as exciting, unless of course you count SCR 120, which officially makes April “California Safe Digging Month.” Hooray! Each of the bills discussed below took effect on January 1, 2018, except as otherwise stated. Building Codes SB 721 – Requires the inspection of exterior elevated elements, including balconies, decks, porches, stairways, walkways, and elevated entry structures, of multifamily buildings with three or more dwelling units by an architect, engineer or contractor with a Class A, B or C-5 license by January 1, 2025 and by January 1st every six years thereafter. Elements posing an immediate threat to the safety of occupants, or which prevent occupant access or emergency repairs, are required to be repaired immediately. Elements not posing an immediate threat to the safety of occupants, or which do not prevent occupant access or emergency repairs, are required to be repaired within 180 days. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Wendel Rosen
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@wendel.com

Continuing Breach Doctrine

May 28, 2024 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
Have you ever heard of the “continuing breach” doctrine? Probably not. It is not a doctrine commonly discussed. It’s a doctrine used to try to argue around the statute of limitations. In an older Southern District Court of Florida case, Allapattah Services, Inc. v. Exxon Corp., 188 F.R.Ed. 667, 679 (S.D.Fla. 1999), the court explained: “Under this [continuing breach] doctrine, a cause of action for breach of a contract does not begin to accrue upon the initial breach; rather, on contracts providing serial performance by the parties, accrual of a breach of contract cause of action commences upon the occurrence of the last breach or upon termination of the contract.” Recently, this doctrine came up in an opinion by Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal. In Hernando County, Florida v. Hernando County Fair Association, Inc., 49 Fla.L.Weekly D947b (Fla. 5th DCA 2024), a plaintiff appealed the trial court’s dismissal with prejudice of its breach of contract claim based on the statute of limitations. The plaintiff claimed the defendant breached the contract by its failure to substantially redevelop property. The trial court dismissed based on the statute of limitations. However, the complaint alleged the defendant’s failure to comply “with numerous other intertwined, ongoing, and continuing contractual duties and obligations.” Hernando County, supra. The Fifth District reversed based on the continuing breach doctrine: “Where the nature of the contract is continuous, statutes of limitations do not typically begin to run until termination of the entire contract.” Id. quoting and citing Allapattah Servs., Inc. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

FEMA Administrator Slams Failures to Prepare, Evacuate Before Storms

October 23, 2018 — Christopher Flavelle - Bloomberg
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long angrily criticized the failure of citizens to heed evacuation warnings and leaders to better prepare for natural disasters such as Hurricane Michael. "It's frustrating to us because we repeat this same cycle over and over again," Long said during a press briefing Friday at FEMA headquarters in Washington. "If you want to live in these areas, you've got to do it in a more resilient fashion." Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Christopher Flavelle, Bloomberg

Roadway Contractor Owed Duty of Care to Driver Injured Outside of Construction Zone

January 04, 2021 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
For the roadway contractor it appeared to be an open and shut case: Plaintiff car driver was stopped at a standard one-way “reversing lane closure” traffic control in which traffic going in one direction would be stopped while traffic going in the other direction was allowed to proceed, and then the procedure would be reversed. Plaintiff, while stopped at the traffic control, was rear-ended by another vehicle driven by George Smithson. Smithson testified that he “must have looked off to the side” at some point prior to the collision because he did not see plaintiff’s vehicle before hitting it. He also testified that the primary reason the accident happened was that he was not paying attention and that he knew of no other cause of the accident. For the roadway contractor you couldn’t ask for a better admission. And it ended in the trial court just the way you thought it would, with a win for the roadway contractor. That is, until it was appealed. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

24/7 Wall Street Reported on Eight Housing Markets at All-Time Highs

June 18, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
24/7 Wall St., using data from RealtyTrac, “identified the county-level housing markets that have recovered the most from the housing crisis as of March of this year.” Number eight on the list was Weld County, Colorado, which had a percentage change of 11.1% and an unemployment rate of only 6.5%. Next on the list, was San Francisco County. The California county had a percentage change of 15.3% and an unemployment rate of 5.2%. Making number one on the list was Jefferson County, Kentucky, with a percentage change of 63.1% and unemployment rate of 8.1%. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of

Strangers in a Strange Land: Revisiting Arbitration Provisions to Account for Increasing International Influences

July 16, 2023 — William Underwood - ConsensusDocs
Arbitration is nothing new. Neither is globalization. But the two are coming together in ways that have incrementally influenced the manner in which many arbitrations are now conducted. And this merits a re-examination of old arbitration clauses to account for some of these new influences. With that in mind, this article will examine some basic considerations when examining arbitration agreements within a construction industry that continues to see the increasing participation of foreign companies in domestic projects. Although this is not a comprehensive review of best drafting practices, nor is it a full survey of the differences between domestic and international arbitration, this article will nonetheless highlight a few basic concepts to keep in mind when reviewing arbitration clauses. As a basic starting point, the continuing globalization of the construction industry has led to distinct impacts on the ways in which parties conduct arbitrations in the United States. The increased participation of international companies in domestic construction projects has naturally led to the application of international legal concepts to domestic alternative dispute resolution. And the increasing prevalence of these international concepts has led to a number of important trends that can impact the way arbitrations are handled. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of William Underwood, Jones & Walker (ConsensusDocs)
Mr. Underwood may be contacted at wunderwood@joneswalker.com

Century Communities Acquires Dunhill Homes Las Vegas Operations

April 08, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
According to Big Builder, “Colorado-based Century Communities” has acquired “the Las Vegas operations team and 1,849 lots of Dunhill Homes.” This brings Century’s “total land position of owned and controlled lots to 10,095, an increase of 21% since the end of 2013.” “More than the homes and land inventory, this acquisition allows us to add an experienced operations team, with a reputation of delivering quality homes in well-located communities,” stated Robert Francescon and Dale Francescon, Co-Chief Executive Officers of Century Communities, in a statement as quoted by Big Builder. “Additionally, Las Vegas remains a land constrained market, and we are now uniquely positioned within communities that would be very difficult to replicate today, with land inventory to drive future growth.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of

FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES