Construction Owners & Builders Law Blog

The review over at IPTAblog addresses the intersection of law, technology and creativity.

Here are reports from California, Illinois, Texas, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Connecticut, Florida and Arkansas. Mold woes from summer humidity continue to torture school districts.

The Construction Risk.com Report points to a Wisconsin appellate court decision holding a contract clause permitting an architect to rely on reports from other firms does not relieve the architect of its duty to inform the owner of inadequacies in the report and the need for additional investigation.

For a cogent explanation of issues related to the potential overlap between fire and building codes, read this post over at the Code Connection.

The Reality TV Edition over at the Mommy Blawg.

Davis Swanner over at South Carolina Trial Law Blog posts on why he picked Lexblog to design and maintain his site.

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.

The Construction Attorney Blog points to an article on how the housing boom is also creating a boom in copyright infringement cases.

For many schools, the price of a hot summer has been bills for mold inspection and remediation. Here are reports on mold and other problems from Lousiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Hawaii, North Carolina, Illionois, South Carolina, California, Washington and Florida.

There are useful links to material on retrieving and using archived information from companies' web sites as evidence over at Be Specific.

Declarations and Exclusions gives a real life example of how lawyers' manufacture of discovery disputes can make discovery needlessly more expensive for their own clients as well as the other parties.

Relying on federal precedent, a Florida appellate court held last month home office overhead calculated using the Eichleay formula cannot be recovered for a project delay when the contractor did not suspend all or most of its work.

It's up over at Patent Baristas.

May It Please the Court commends a new book on the pitfalls of using boilerplate in contract documents.

Electronic Discovery and Evidence points out this excellent LA Times article on the battle between computer forensic experts and designers of programs to erase computer data.

The Construction Attorney Blog posts on the copyright suit pending over the similarities in the design an architectural firm submitted for Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site and a student architectural project.

The American Society of Professional Estimators (ASPE) reports the States of California, New Jersey and New Mexico, the General Services Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy require ASPE certified estimators be involved in preparing, supervising or checking their project construction cost estimates.

Here's a list of dos and do nots from GutterHQ on how to avoid water intrusion and mold in constructing homes and small commercial buildings.

Here's a how to article describing the potential consequences to all parties' of failing to require proof of coverage and waiver of subrogation rights on a construction project.

James River Insurance Company which opened its doors only two years ago received a vote of confidence from Wall Street as its share price climbed 11% on its first day as a public company reports The News & Observer.

...is now posted; "play ball" over at The Common Scold, Monica Bay's place

Here's an update on mold, sick building and construction defect cases and news from around the country.

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.

"This story is about dirt," said Thomas W. Prewitt, the Dean of the Mississippi construction law bar, "It's a story about dirt wetted by the blood of friendship broken and packed by orders of hurry and get it done and I'll pay you later."

The Construction Law Blog reports on the public backlash triggered by the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London on eminent domain.

The Washington Post reports the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin testing a new less expensive and some say less safe "wet down" method for asbestos removal as a prelude to rewriting federal rules for removing the cancer-causing material.

The Tennessee Business Litigation Law blog points to an article by a defense attorney about how the lower courts are applying the Supreme Court's decision in State Farm v. Campbell on the constitutional limits of punitive damages awards.

Cardinal Wolsey: That... thing out there; at least she's fertile.
Sir Thomas More: She's not his wife.
Cardinal Wolsey: No, Catherine's his wife and she's barren as a brick; are you going to pray for a miracle?
Sir Thomas More: There are precedents.

Get the scoop on the poop over at May It Please the Court. Nothing to do with construction law, building defects, toxic mold or winning your case--but it may make you smile.

Design professionals and their errors and omissions insurers will be warned they really will be required to cover the cost of change orders resulting from design omissions if Mississippi's Bureau of Building accepts the recommendations made in a recent report by the Mississippi Legislature's PEER Committee.

A new Blawg review is posted at the Great American Lawyer. Enjoy!

Some call the new Kansas Fairness in Private Construction Contract Act some the most sweeping law of its type in the country.

Our latest alert features reports of general interest and from Colorado, New Jersey, Texas, New York, Virginia, California, Ohio, Nevada and Arizona. I think this alert is the first with no news from Florida--perhaps its just been too darn hot there.

"Home Depot will provide components to the infrastructure around your home. There will be materials provided from Home Depot in the road around your home. The water you drink will be transported through valves and pipes that Home Depot will supply. The hotel room that you stay in will be supported by Home Depot from construction to décor," says its CEO in a USA Today profile.

Cities in 10 counties in the Atlanta area had to spend $2 billion on storm-water facilities to handle runoff caused by the loss of trees reports USA Today in a front page article.

My earlier post on Judge Robert's opinions in construction law related cases overlooked his dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc in the "hapless toad" case, Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norton.

For a compilation of financial and employment statistics about the construction industry within the United States click here.

Our latest alert features reports of general interest and from New York, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Tennessee and Maryland.

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 follow developments, reports and commentary on the John Robert's nomination visit regularly The Supreme Court Nomination Blog and ABC News:The Note.

The Ninth Circuit's affirmation of a $78,769,218 antitrust verdict against Weyerhaeuser Company for buying more alder logs than it needed to prevent competitors from obtaining logs at reasonable prices is summarized over at the Antitrust Law Blog.

Denise Howell over at Between Lawyers points to some of the better blogs addressing this question.

The Department of Justice's efforts to crack down on price fixing and bid rigging in construction products is generating indictments and guilty pleas reports the Antitrust Law Blog.

Clay Conrad at Jurygeek posts about how the No Child Left Behind Act may be blunting efforts to promote education about the jury system.

Beware lawyers selling Miami Beach Hotels!

That's what one citizen suggested when told the contractor submitted a $500,000 bill for copying documents for investigators.

Point of Law.com points out limits on punitive damages awards adopted by the current Supreme Court may be undermined if a strict originalist like Justice Scalia or Thomas is appointed to replace moderate Justice O'Conner.

For the contractor looking for a new toy click on this Construction Law Blog post.

The EPA is making enforcement of its storm water permits a top priority reports the National Association of Home Builders's Nations Building News.

The story is over at the Antitrust Law Blog.

Read the story over at Fast Company Magazine.

Yesterday's Supreme Court decision affirming a city's taking of property to clear the way for a new private development triggered a blizzard of blogger commentary.

Over at the Code Connection Journal there's a post on the building code changes being recommended as a result of the World Trade Center collapse by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

In a decision praised by builders, the Seventh Circuit has rejected an environmental challenge to the EPA's Construction General Permit for storm water discharge.

An American builder has announced plans to construct in Maryland the world's largest building based on the ancient Vedic principles of India reports the Hindustan Times.

"The Symposium will cover the scientific causes of leaky buildings, practical ways of fixing them, legal issues surrounding the situation and converge on the vision of industry leaders in ensuring quality homes," reports the Scoop.

In an earlier post we pointed out the increasing popularity of exchanging construction documents electronically and the new world of electronic discovery issues this created for attorneys handling construction claims. This Atlanta Business Chronicle article profiles a company leading the charge to keep project records on the web rather than in traditional file cabinets.

Colorado's Governor has vetoed a bill that would have prohibited one person from requiring another person or another persons insurer or surety from indemnifying that person from its own negligence for personal injury or property damage.

Mold continues to trigger controversy, lawsuits and headlines--and government action--according to news reports from Florida, Atlanta, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

A Philadelphia Bank recently announced plans to build 90 new bank branches with "green building" construction methods and materials, according to this post in the Construction Blawg.

A bankrupt subcontractor has sued the University of North Carolina for deceptive trade practices, fraud and breach of contract, according to this article in the Daily Tar Heel. But the real beef appears to be not getting paid for extra work.

Here are some recent reports from New Orleans, New Jersey, California and Florida on toxic mold and sick buildings and related construction defects:

I recommend to construction news junkies the recent posts to the Construction Law Blog published by Don Hawbacker. Don surveys the popular press for interesting construction news such as these articles on troubled projects, construction fraud, construction and politics, construction accidents and injuries and construction claims. He also regularly posts what "the bizjournals are reporting" on construction and other topics of moment.

Dennis Doran, Senior Consultant at FMI Corporation presented the results of the Fifth Annual FMI/CMAA Survey of Owners at the recent Denver leadership meeting of the Construction Owners Association of America. The response theme of the owners polled was: “ineffective communication and collaboration among stakeholders is a primary reason that projects: run over budget, finish behind schedule and are considered unsuccessful,”according to Doran.

Earlier this month I attended the Construction Owners Association of America (COAA) leadership conference in Denver. The presentations were outstanding, and I am going to share some of the materials with you in coming entries.

Most of COAA’s members are involved in “continuous building programs” not one-time projects. Owners and developers involved in continuous building are responsible for constructing most of the major construction projects within the United States.