Are you a construction industry professional looking to stay current on the legal landscape affecting your projects and operations? Join me and my Stoel colleagues Zachary Davis, John Dudrey, and Mario Nicholas who will be presenting at the 30th Annual Oregon Construction Law Seminar, hosted by The Seminar Group, on Thursday
Oregon Senate Bill 426 Would Make Owners and Prime Contractors Liable for Unpaid Wages Owed by Those They Hire
Developers, owners, and contractors would all be wise to take note of Senate Bill 426, currently under consideration in the Oregon legislature.
SB 426 addresses wage theft in the construction industry. If enacted, it would impose joint and several liability on the owner and prime contractor for unpaid employee wages – including fringe benefits
Document Preservation, Collection and Production Obligations
In construction disputes, whether in court or arbitration, exchanging documents like project files and emails is crucial for resolving the case fairly. The story behind most disputes is told through these communications, which is why it’s important for contractors, owners, and designers to understand their legal duty to preserve documents, especially in the digital age
Strategies for Getting Difficult Construction Contracts to the Finish Line
Parties negotiating a design and construction contract for a large project will often leave for the end discussions of a few provisions that one side or the other has characterized as “deal-breakers.” Though the deal may be doomed to fail, one of the parties may also make a concession or concessions, have its bluff called
Arbitration Provisions to Consider in a Proposed Design or Construction Contract
The party responding to a proposed design or construction contract may satisfy itself that the contract proposes arbitration or litigation to resolve any disputes and leave it at that—as long as the method of resolution is generally aligned with the party’s preferences. In order to eliminate surprises for their clients if a dispute arises and
What Parties Ought To Consider When Considering Arbitration Provisions
When reviewing a proposed design or construction contract, the responding party will often do a cursory check to see whether the contract proposes arbitration or litigation for dispute resolution. So long as the proposed method generally aligns with that party’s preferences, it will not look further at the specifics of the proposed process. For the uninitiated, this can lead to surprises when a dispute arises, especially when it comes to issues like whether the arbitration will be held before a single arbitrator or a panel of arbitrators, the rules that will apply to the arbitration, and the scope of discovery.
Construction and design attorneys, on the other hand, spend many working hours (and sometimes nonworking hours) contemplating these exact issues. I have developed a checklist of items that I advise my clients to consider in their arbitration provisions. The combined goal of these considerations is eliminating surprises if a dispute arises and balancing efficiency with the desire for a fair process. Typically, that checklist includes the following topics:
- Rules applicable to the arbitration
- Single arbitrator or panel of arbitrators?
- Scope of discovery
- Maximizing opportunity for resolution in a single proceeding
The full article, including details on each of these topics can be found at What Parties Ought To Consider When Considering Arbitration Provisions | Stoel Rives LLP.
This article was originally published in by the Daily Journal of Commerce on April 20, 2023.
Looking Back — and Ahead — After Two Years of a Pandemic
In my column for the Daily Journal of Commerce from two years ago, I wrote that proceeding with ongoing or planned construction was not without impact or risk tied to COVID-19, and I provided a checklist for owners, designers and contractors to help them decide whether to continue a project or start a new one
Managing Engineering Liability and Risk in Oregon
On February 25, 2022, my colleague Zachary Davis and I will be presenting as part of a HalfMoon Education live interactive webinar Managing Engineering Liability and Risk in Oregon. Zachary will present “Law of Engineering Malpractice,” an overview of professional liability claims. I will present “Understanding How Contracts Can Shift, Reduce (or Increase) Risk,”
Pandemic Creates Cause to Rethink Overlooked Contract Provisions
The construction industry has proved adaptable over the course of the pandemic — owners and general and trade contractors have worked closely to ensure that work continued, while keeping workers safe and complying with the various government-ordered and -recommended practices intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. By now, most owners and contractors are well
Can (or Should) My Project Continue During the Shutdown?
Several weeks have passed since Governor Brown formally ordered all Oregonians to “Stay Home, Save Lives,” and owners, project designers, and contractors have all had the opportunity to absorb its initial impacts. While many stakeholders were initially relieved that construction projects in Oregon could apparently continue—subject to the various social distancing and travel restrictions described