Construction Owners & Builders Law Blog

South Carolina Construction Defect Law (Clay Olson)

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:15:30 -0600

Y'all Politics (Alan Lange)

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:45:55 -0600

Mississippi Injury Lawyer Blog (Robert Kisselburgh)

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:43:01 -0600

Mississippi Family Law Blog (Robert Kisselburgh)

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:41:34 -0600

Ipse Blogit (Matt Eichelberger, Jim Craig))

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:36:42 -0600

The Louisiana Employment Law Blog (Norman Mott)

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:34:54 -0600

NMissCommentor (Tom Freeland)

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:33:10 -0600

MS Litigation Review and Commentary (Phillip Thomas)

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:30:28 -0600

Will Bardwell Law Firm Blog

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:26:53 -0600

Foundation Problems - Blame Global Warming or Your Contractor?

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:40:55 -0600

"You love your home and then it turns on you," The New York Times reports one homeowner said when he discovered the foundation of his home was cracking, crumbling and moving. Repairing unstable foundations costs homeowners around $4 billion a year and that cost often is not covered by insurance.

Frequently, the shifting is the result of contractions and expansions triggered by soil drying out from lack of rain or being flooded by excessive rain. Kate Murphy, writing for The New York Times, reports in "Shifting Soil Threatens Homes’ Foundations" that some experts believe these shifts are due to global warming.

But weather does not let builders, engineers and architects off the legal hook. They are supposed to consider soil conditions and how that soil might expand and contract during dry and wet weather conditions in designing and building the foundations of homes and other buildings.

How Some Homebuilders and Developers Comitted Mortgage Fraud Schemes

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:44:16 -0600

Some homebuilders and developers regrettably were involved in the massive mortgage fraud that helped trigger the present recession.

A Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) White Paper (PDF) labels one common scheme the "Builder Bailout." and describes it as follows:

A builder bailout occurs when a builder, who has unsold units in a tract, subdivision, or condominium complex, employs various fraudulent schemes to sell the remaining properties. In stressed economic or financial conditions, a builder may be pressured to liquidate remaining inventory to cover financial obligations. To sell the remaining properties, the builder may use a variety of tools including, but not limited to, hidden down payment assistance or excessive seller concessions to elevate the sales price. As a result of the scheme, the unsuspecting financial institution is often left with a loan secured by inflated collateral value and the “real” loan-to-value is greater than 100 percent.

]]> Here are some of the more prominent cases as reported by the Mortgage Fraud Blog:

Home Developer Charged With Unlawfully Selling Houses

Conviction in 18 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Home Builder Ordered to Pay Restitution Penalties

Home Builder Sentenced for Defrauding Mortgage Lenders

2 Mortgage Brokers Plead Guilty to Fraud

Defendant Pleads Guilty in Mortgage Fraud Case

Real Estate Developer Pleads Guilty in 50 Million Bank Fraud Scheme

New Lead Paint Rules for Renovation of Homes Built Pre-1978

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:13:54 -0600

On April 21, new lead paint rules applicable to housing and certain child care schools and facilities built prior to 1978 go into effect. Lead exposure can cause brain damage; exposure prior to age six is especially dangerous.

Contractors and owners can find the EPA's regulations on lead paint in Title 40, Part 745 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Visit The Illinois Construction Law Blog for a great summary of these new rules.

Amen!

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:12:22 -0600

"To listen to talk radio, to watch TV pundits, to read a newspaper's online message board, is to realize that increasingly, we are a people estranged from critical thinking, divorced from logic, alienated from even objective truth. We admit no ideas that do not confirm us, hear no voices that do not echo us, sift out all information that does not validate what we wish to believe. I submit that any people thus handicapped sow the seeds of their own decline; they respond to the world as they wish it were rather to the world as it is."

]]> ( columnist Leonard Pitts). More on the "Demons of Stupidity" over at The Louisiana Employment Law Blog.

Snow Damage in DC

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:00:02 -0600

The Virginia Real Estate and Land Use & Construction Law Blog reports that the recent blizzard in Washington caused a wave of roof collapses. Undoubtedly questions will be raised about the design and construction of some of these structures by owners and their property insurers. . Seeing photos of the damage reminds me again why I love living in Mississippi. It snows for a day then goes away.

Tax Warning to all Federal Contractors

rcw@williamsonlawfirm.com (Robert Williamson) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:41:30 -0600

The Federal Contracting Law Blog reports that in January President Obama signed a presidential memorandum instructing the IRS to audit all federal contractors. The audit will prevent companies that owe back taxes from obtaining more federal work.