In partnership with Annual Review of Legal Decisions Casey A. Quillen, Esq. Ruebel & Quillen, LLC 56 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys Chicago, Illinois May 25 – 26, 2017
Construction Trends • Cost of litigation will continue to increase • Tighter Labor force • Trend toward mediation • Fewer worker’s compensation claims • More overtime disputes • More technology – Construction management software for bidding, estimating, scheduling, change orders, etc. – Drones – BIM • Focus on Sustainability 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys May 20, 2019
ARBITRATION 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela No. 17-988 (April 24, 2019) •Arbitration is strictly a matter of consent. •“Like silence, ambiguity does not provide a sufficient basis to conclude that parties to an arbitration agreement agreed to sacrifice the principle advantage of arbitration.” 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys 3 May 20, 2019
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
Aka “Proof that you can Sue for Anything” 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
Gignac & Assocs., LLP v. Hernandez 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 1284 (Tex. Ct. App. Feb. 15, 2018) 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys 6
Thompson v. Harrah’s Atlantic City Holding, Inc. 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53006 (U.S. Dist. Ct. N.J. March 29, 2018) 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys 7
CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
People ex rel. Hammer v. Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co. 2018 IL App (1 st ) 171613-U (Ill. App. 2018) • Court denies Owner’s delay claim against Contractor upon finding that Architect acted with bias for Owner in delaying certification of substantial completion. • When an architect acts under a contract as the official interpreter of its conditions or the judge of its performance, its decisions are entitled to a presumption of correctness or compelling judicial deference. – But that entitlement does not apply where the architect acted in bad faith, fraudulently, or arbitrarily, or if the architect made a gross mistake. 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
DUTY OF DESIGN PROFESSIONAL 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
DEFENSE AND INDEMNITY 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
Mid-Continental Cas. Co. v. Delacruz Drywall Plastering & Stucco, Inc. 2019 WL 1093211 (11 th Cir. Mar. 8, 2019) • Applying Florida law, Court affirmed that an insurer’s duty to indemnify is not justiciable until the insured’s liability has been adjudicated in the underlying case. 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
INSURANCE 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
Everest Nat’l Ins. Co. v. Gessner Engineering, LLC 325 F. Supp. 3d 760 (S.D. Tex. 2018) 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys 14
Stewart Engineering v. Cont’l Cas. Co. 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 31521 (4 th Cir. Nov. 7, 2018) • Design firm’s two bridge projects which both collapsed are ruled as single occurrence for insurance purposes. • Two pedestrian bridges collapse within 24 hours of each other. • Death of one construction worker; injuries to several others. – Limits - $3M single claim limit. - $5M aggregate limit. – Wrongful act defined as “error, omission, or other act that causes liability in the performance of professional services for other by you” – Related claims: “all claims arising out of a single wrongful act or multiple wrongful acts that are logically or causally connected by any common fact, situation, event, transaction, or decision.” 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
Customer Satisfaction Survey Were you satisfied with your visit? - Yes - No 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
Aka “Best Existential Legal Argument” 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
Hampton Hall, LLC v. Chapman Coyle Chapman & Assocs. 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17795 (D. SC Feb. 2, 2018) • On appeal Hampton argued: – Substantial completion never actually occurred because the construction violated applicable building codes, and/or – the Owner and Architect did not intend for the substantial completion of the project to be based on the certificate of substantial completion. 58 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys
In partnership with Annual Review of Legal Decisions Casey A. Quillen, Esq. RUEBEL & QUILLEN, LLC 56 th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys Chicago, Illinois May 25 – 26, 2017
Recommend
More recommend
