Construction Owners & Builders Law Blog

Read all about it in USA Today.

Construction consultant William Langton posts on what law governs when a construction dispute is decided by international commercial arbitration.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held last month that the existence of a written agreement to arbitrate may be proven by testimony if the agreement itself cannot be found. Link

Washington Construction Law posts on a case holding arbitration awards are not final judgments and, therefore, do not accrue interest.

The Online Guide to Mediation lists construction law blogs including yours truly.

Read about this new game over at the Online Guide to Mediation.

Arnie Herz over at Legal Sanity points to a new "must read" book by negotiation gurus Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro entitled, Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate.

A California Court of Appeals vacated an arbitrator's $3.3 million award because he failed to timely disclose he was retained as an arbitrator in another case involving the attorneys for one of the parties. The case is summarized over at the the Real Estate and Construction Law blog.

The National Arbitration Forum Blog posts on the myth that arbitration is causing the decline in jury trials; the high cost of trying a case is behind the vanishing jury trial.

Here's some good advice from the National Association of Home Builders on drafting a drafting a binding arbitration clause for non-commercial building projects.

The mandatory arbitration clause in the American Institutes of Architects' General Conditions of the Contract of Construction does not survive termination of the contract, a Florida appellate court recently ruled in Aberdeen Golf & Country Club v. Bliss Construction, Inc.

There's a good summary of the decision and you can download it over at the Construction Attorney Blog.

A Lexis search turned up three opinions directly related to construction law issues and claims authored by President Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge John Roberts of the D.C. Circuit.

To limit construction defect suits, some developers are including clauses waiving any claims if notice is not given within 30 days and clauses requiring arbitration according to the Colorado Home Owners Association Law Blog.

See the post on the Colorado Supreme Court's decision so holding over at the Construction Attorney Blog.

Applying the Federal Arbitration Act, a Texas appellate court ruled last week that the arbitrator, not the court, must decide whether a contractor's failure to demand arbitration within 30 days of the architect's final decision on its claim makes the architect's decision final and binding.

I am a disciple of the negotiating approach explained in Fisher and Ury, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. One key to getting to yes in any negotiation is knowing and appreciating your "best alternative to a negotiated agreement" (BATNA).

E-mails may be used to form an enforecable contract to arbititrate under a holding by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.