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Sean Gay

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Sean Gay is a former construction professional who applies his extensive industry experience to help clients achieve their goals. Before joining Stoel Rives, Sean managed construction projects in Washington and Hawaii. As a construction project manager, Sean was intimately involved in the technical and financial aspects of his projects.

Clients rely on Sean’s ability to leverage his real-world experience to their legal issues. He advises clients on a broad range of matters, including project management issues, contract negotiations, public contracting issues, bid protests, and disputes. Sean has extensive experience litigating and arbitrating a wide variety of complex construction matters. His knowledge about how construction projects get managed and built—and occasionally result in disputes—has proved an invaluable resource in his legal career.

Sean is a partner in Stoel Rives’ Construction & Design group.

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Under Oregon law, construction lien claimants have a “direct” lien. Although the lien arises through the statutory agency of the contractor, for lien claimants other than the contractor, it is independent of the contractor and secures payment to the claimant regardless of whether the owner paid the contractor or whether the contractor waived or released…

A construction lien is a statutory interest in privately owned real property.  It is granted to individuals and entities who provide labor, materials, or services that improve the property.  Because the construction lien is an interest in real property, it has the potential to affect other competing interests in the same property. Oregon’s construction lien…

Like many modern American legal principles, the concept of the lien originated in England, where those who performed physical labor—so-called “mechanics”—were given a “charge” on the items upon which they worked. Shortly after the American Revolution, states and territories in the United States began enacting statutes giving builders lien rights to secure payment for their…

Getting construction underway before a contract is signed can feel like a practical necessity in fast-paced projects. But what seems like progress can create unintended legal and operational risks. Modern construction agreements are detailed documents that define scope, risk allocation, insurance, compensation, and dispute resolution. When work begins without those terms firmly in place, parties…

Construction contracts are often loaded with industry and legal jargon, making them tough for nonlawyers to understand. Even though there’s a push for simpler legal language, lawyers are hesitant to let go of traditional terms. This reluctance means complex legal language will likely persist in construction contracts.

Commonly Misunderstood Legal Terms in Construction Contracts:

Pro…

Bringing a construction project to fruition involves significant risks to project owners, designers, and contractors. Many of those risks will be allocated in the parties’ contracts, in turn requiring those parties to obtain insurance and further allocating risks to insurance companies. Several commonly used insurance policies are at the heart of any construction project insurance…

Originally published as an Op-Ed by the Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce on February 16, 2023.

Introduced as a ballot measure, Oregon’s Employer Liability Law (ELL) was described in a voter’s pamphlet from 1910 as “a law requiring protection for persons engaged in hazardous employments, defining and extending the liability of employers, and providing that…