Construction

An explosion caused by release of natural gas from a damaged pipe caused personal injury and property damage. Resulting lawsuits against the contractor whose crew damaged the pipe were defended by the contractor’s general liability (GL) carrier, wh… Read More

Believing actual quantities of rock removal would be far less than the engineer’s estimate, the contractor bid a penny per cubic yard of rock removal on a water main extension project. Of course, other bid items could then be inflated and yet the c… Read More

The government when faced with a complex contractor claim may extend the deadline for the Contracting Officer’s response to a date beyond the original CDA 60-day period. What happens when the CO seeks to extend the deadline a second time? The Court… Read More

News reports this week cover legislative action in four different states to reduce the scope of prevailing wage laws on public projects. Whatever your opinion on prevailing wage laws – love them, hate them, or somewhere in the middle – the effort… Read More

Is the New Hampshire eight-year statute of repose tolled (extended) when the original builder occupies a house for four years? The NH Supreme Court has said no. Drouin Builders built the house in 2001 and conveyed it to sole shareholder Michael Droui… Read More

The Utah Supreme Court has held that a mechanic’s lien does not include attorneys’ fees incurred by a contractor even when the lien statute allows recovery of reasonable legal fees. The court distinguished between the right to recover attorneys�… Read More

The government claims a contractor’s work is defective. The contractor says in defense that problems are due to design deficiencies and not construction errors. Is the contractor’s position a “claim” subject to the Contract Disputes Act (CDA)… Read More

Readers will recall photos of a tower crane damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Construction of the NYC high-rise building known as One57 was underway when the crane was lashed by hurricane-force winds. The crane jib was apparently blown backwards, and ended… Read More