Litigation isn’t top of mind at the outset of a construction project, but smart contracting means planning for it anyway. Early in the process, parties can build contractual terms that anticipate potential disputes and help reduce costs and headaches down the road.
Contracts offer more than promises about deliverables—they’re an opportunity to set the rules
In construction projects, experienced owners, contractors, or designers know that disputes will almost invariably arise — even when the parties have the best of intentions. And they understand that detailed contract provisions to resolve those disputes can have major benefits if they are properly drafted to suit the project, parties, and types of dispute most
A 2018 legal case in New York arose over the disposition of a collection of run-down warehouses in Long Island City, Queens, New York, which graffiti artists began to use as a canvas for their work after the buildings went undeveloped by the owner for many years. When the owner announced that he would demolish
The nearly 60 cranes towering over Seattle’s skyline may be a sign of the building boom in the city, but they also could portend a flood of construction claims arising from the projects they help build. Despite the frequency of construction claims, many developers are not familiar with the dispute resolution methods available to them
The federal Civil Rights Act (“Act”) was enacted by Congress in 1964 to protect individual civil liberties, but the Act has evolved over time into a vehicle that can also be used to challenge public agencies on a wide range of topics, as long as there is a constitutional right implicated. This side of the
In my recent article, "Contractor Not Entitled to Setoff Costs of Repairing Subcontractor’s Defective Work," I discuss the Oregon Court of Appeals’ decision that a contractor cannot terminate its subcontractor for convenience and setoff costs incurred in repairing the subcontractor’s defective work (affirming the trial court’s decision).
Read the full article, here.
"Contractor Not
While many in the Pacific Northwest claim to have seen Sasquatch or Bigfoot, few have any evidence to substantiate the existence of this fabled creature. Regardless, hope rings eternal for some that one day this beast will be catalogued as a genuine, albeit elusive, example of the “missing link” between man and ape.
Applying this
In my latest Daily Journal of Commerce Construction column, I discuss the issue of whether a contractor may sue a lender. This occasionally arises when a project’s owner runs into trouble and the construction lender stops funding. The argument that is occasionally advanced is that the lender knew the contractor had started work and, if