Residential Contractor Boot Camp
Construction Delays in the Time of Coronavirus: A Legal Perspective
The California legislature may be providing California small businesses with another tool to combat construction-related accessibility claims through Senate Bill 84 (SB 84) which advanced to the State Assembly on June 4,...more
Construction law in the United States consists of two main bodies of legal rules. The first, federal law, applies to contracts involving the U.S. government and its agencies. The second, state law, applies to pretty much...more
On June 1, 2025, the Texas legislature passed HB 40, and Governor Greg Abbott signed it on June 21, 2025. The new law helps further define the jurisdiction of Texas’s Business Courts, originally established in 2023. This is...more
In Dobson v. Archibald, the Washington Supreme Court addressed and confirmed statutory analyses concerning the required contractor registration in Washington. 1 Wash. 3d 102, 523 P.3d 1190 (2023). Contractors and potential...more
In a recent Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals decision, homeowners who experienced significant property damage from both a fallen tree and inadequate contractor work were left without the protection of Ohio’s Consumer...more
In URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd [2025] UKSC 21, the Supreme Court has dismissed URS' appeal on all four grounds in its decision handed down on 21 May 2025. The case will be remitted to the TCC to determine the...more
1. DEVELOPERS WIN AGAIN AS SUPREME COURT REJECTS A "VOLUNTARINESS PRINCIPLE" - The Supreme Court has delivered its judgment in the litigation between developers and designers over structural defects in high-rise buildings,...more
In the world of construction, it is essential for both prime contractors and lower-tier subcontractors to carefully manage financial risk when negotiating subcontract agreements. While a party’s ability to distinguish and...more
The UK Supreme Court’s (Court) decision in URS Corporation Ltd v. BDW Trading Ltd [2025] UKSC 21 resolves key questions around the recoverability of remediation costs where the developer no longer owns the property and has no...more
Builder’s risk insurance is a cornerstone of effective risk management in the construction industry. It offers protection against a variety of physical and financial risks that can impede the successful and timely completion...more
On May 28, 2025, the Supreme Court of Ohio passed on an opportunity to settle a long-standing legal question: Does Ohio law require a trial court to conduct an oral hearing before compelling arbitration under R.C. 2711.03?...more
On May 12, 2025, Governor Jared Polis signed House Bill 25-1272 (“HB 25-1272“) into law. This act, known as the Colorado American Dream Act, seeks to address a key barrier to the construction of entry level condominiums and...more
In Trustees of Boston University v. Clough Harbour & Associates LLP, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court considered anew whether a construction defect claim tendered under the terms of a bespoke contractual indemnity...more
The Court of Appeals’ opinion in N.C. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Young, (No. COA24-594) addresses how a court is likely to assess the duty to defend and the duty to indemnify under an insurance contract, and the interplay...more
Federal construction contracts often involve unforeseen delays. The key question is who is responsible for the resulting costs. A new decision from the ASBCA provides a blueprint for how contractors can maximize recovery...more
On Monday, June 9, 2025, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Missouri real estate developer could not recover insurance proceeds for lost rental income arising out of a retaining wall failure that caused delays...more
Washington’s construction lien statute makes clear that all lien foreclosure actions arising out of the same project should be joined into a single lawsuit. Filing a motion to intervene in a pending foreclosure lawsuit will...more
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has rejected a contractor’s performance bond claim due to the lack of adequate notice to the subcontractor’s surety (see Flintco LLC v. Total Installation Management Specialists, Inc., No. 120,100...more
Large public infrastructure projects typically involve several stakeholders and a complex array of contracts and subcontracts. A thoughtful approach to the negotiation and drafting of contractual dispute resolution clauses...more
Construction bonds are vital tools in the construction industry. A construction bond is an instrument arising out of suretyship law. A project owner may require a contractor to obtain one or more types of construction bond to...more
A contract’s limitation of liability or “LOL” clause is often the subject of considerable attention and negotiation between contracting parties and frequently arises during the contract drafting process in which owners,...more
Not long ago, I spoke with a general contractor on a multinational infrastructure project. “We had five nationalities on-site,” he said, “and six different ways of interpreting the same deadline.” He wasn’t exaggerating. ...more
Owners can trigger an insurance policy without formally alleging a tort claim if the contractor's defective work could support a tort claim. The Oregon decision may allow property owners to assert only a breach of...more
A federal district court, applying New York law, has held that a “voluntary payments provision” precluded coverage for an insured’s post-tender costs to remediate its engineering errors because the insured admitted and...more
Historically, the Boards of Contract Appeals and Courts have reviewed design-builders’ reliance on government-provided conceptual drawings or bridging documents in support of constructive change claims under a reasonableness...more