The new RCW 39.04.360, effective June 6, 2024, outlines protections and payment assurances for contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers involved in public and private construction projects in Washington. This statute mandates timely issuance of change orders for undisputed additional work, imposes interest on delays, and clarifies the rights of aggrieved parties to seek appropriate relief, including…

Construction project owners, contractors, and design professionals sometimes fall into the trap of not giving careful consideration to the risks specific to a given project and will wait until an actual dispute arises before closely analyzing the dispute resolution provisions in a design or construction agreement. In my latest article in the Daily Journal of…

Here are some useful basics if you have a dispute that may be headed to court for resolution.

  1. Which court? Most civil disputes are heard in the state trial court in the county where the dispute arose. This court has different names in different states, including “superior court,” “circuit court,” and “district court.”
  2. When does
…

Policymakers have several tools for addressing the rising issue of homelessness in their communities.  In City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, No. 23-175603 (June 28, 2024), the U.S. Supreme Court (“Court”) had its first opportunity to address whether one of these tools, generally applicable laws that restrict camping on public property, constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment. 

The City of Grants Pass, Oregon (“City”) passed an ordinance prohibiting “camping” on “any sidewalk, street, alley, lane, public right of way, park, bench, or any other publicly-owned property or under any bridge or viaduct” (the “Ordinance”).  Dissent of J. Sotomayor at 8 (citing Grants Pass, Ore. Municipal Code §5.61.030 (2024)).  The City’s code defines “camp-site” as “any place where bedding, sleeping bag, or other material used for bedding purposes, or any stove or fire is placed, established, or maintained for the purposes of maintaining a temporary place to live.”  Id. (citing Grants Pass, Ore. Municipal Code §5.61.010(B) (2024)).  Fines for violating the Ordinance start at $295 and could result in criminal trespass if repeated. 

On June 14, 2024, the WSBA Construction Law Section is hosting its midyear CLE program, “Back to the Future: Leveraging Technology in Post-Covid Construction Disputes,” which will cover ethics, construction-related case law updates, technology, perspectives from the bench, arbitration, artificial intelligence, and legislative updates and appeals. 

As part of the program, my colleague Colm Nelson…

In a typical permitting process, the local government may place certain conditions on issuing a building permit to further a legitimate public purpose.  While the local government has “substantial authority to regulate land use,” its regulation cannot violate the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.  The Fifth Amendment, in relevant part, states “nor shall private property be…

In the world of real estate development, parties creating and negotiating real property documents—leases, easements, or purchase agreements—must exercise a great deal of care to ensure that the documents perform exactly their intended function at the time they are operative. Careful drafting can serve another end—to anticipate the developer’s future engagement with the relevant permitting…

For all their exposure to the plans, drawings, and related design documents needed at all stages of a construction project, owners and contractors, as well as many highly experienced practitioners involved in development and construction disputes, are only vaguely familiar at best with the law that governs ownership and use of architectural works. Architectural drawings…

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…