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Construction Law

Construction Law Blog

Coverage of construction litigation and legislation, particularly in Washington state.
By Brett Hill, Ryan Sternoff and John Ahlers

Post Frequency: 10/day

Last Entry: March 30, 2011 at 21:00:00

2010 AIA Revisions to A312 Payment and Performance Bonds

Posted on February 17, 2011
In 1984, the American Institute of Architects published its A312 Payment and Performance Bond forms. Prompted by several court decisions, the AIA recently revised the 1984 bond forms and now has issued a 2010 edition of the A312 forms with several significant changes...

Kennewick CPR Group Merges With Rider Levett

Posted on February 16, 2011
The CPR Group (CPR"), which specializes in construction, consulting and claims management is merging with Rider Levett, and Europe based construction and consulting firm with roots dating back to 1785 in England. Rider Levett has 2,200 employees and regional offices throughout the United States and around the world, including Portland, Or...

Legislators Are Considering Adding Another Station in the Gauntlet of Contractor Change Order Recovery

Posted on February 14, 2011
Now, to further increase the difficulty on contractors of recovering meritorious change order requests, a draft bill is circulating in the halls of the Washington Legislature which would impose severe civil penalties on contractors who file claims.As most AHLERS & CRESSMAN blog readers are aware (a subject of many rants in the past), in 2003, in the case of Mike M...

Grab N' Go Bikini Espresso Stand is Now Grab N' Gone

Posted on February 13, 2011
 Some of you who have been watching the news or reading the paper lately are probably wondering how the construction law firm of Ahlers & Cressman PLLC has its name associated with the risqué coffee stand that was shut down on Thursday, February 10, 2011...

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Efficient Management of Preserving and Producing Electronically Stored Information in Arbitration

Posted on February 10, 2011
A recent article addressing International Arbitration contains some helpful practice pointers as to producing and storing Electronically Stored Information ("ESI"). It is imperative to manage the risks associated with ESI in arbitration. Key construction documents are no longer found only in filing cabinets...

Places Where Germs Breed in an Airplane:

Posted on February 09, 2011
Although not necessarily a construction law-related subject, since all of us spend a fair amount of time in air travel, this topic seemed appropriate for the Ahlers & Cressman blog.One of the advantages of being over the age of 55 is that I now get copied on AARP (American Association of Retired People) articles...

WSDOT Proposes Elimination of Retainage on Federally Funded WSDOT Projects

Posted on February 08, 2011
The Washington State Dept. of Transportation (WSDOT) has introduced draft legislation that would eliminate withholding of retainage on federally funded WSDOT projects. Under the draft legislation House Bill 1384, WSDOT projects would exempt "public improvement contracts involving the construction, alteration, repair or improvement of any highway, road, or street funded in whole or in part by federal transportation funds" from withholding retainage...

8th Circuit Holds That a Critical Path Baseline is not required to sustain the Burden of Proof in a Delay Damages Case

Posted on February 08, 2011
The Daubert Test was established in the 1998 case of Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993). In Daubert, the Supreme Court imbued the federal trial judges with a gate keeping function to determine whether expert scientific testimony was sufficiently reliable to be admissible in a federal trial...

US Economy Now in "Expansion" Mode, is Inflation on the Horizon? Not Necessarily

Posted on February 04, 2011
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney recently reported that the business-cycle recovery of the global economy that began in the summer of 2009 is now over. According to Morgan Stanley, the world economy is in an expansion.The International Monetary Fund reports that the global economy is now $62 trillion, larger than it has ever been before...

Rob McKenna Scores A victory - Florida Federal Court Strikes Down Obama Care as Unconstitutional

Posted on February 01, 2011
Attorney General Rob McKenna and 27 other states' Attorney Generals have challenged the federal healthcare insurance mandate. The "individual mandate" requires that Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty. The Administration claims that the Constitution's Commerce Clause gives Congress the power to force Americans to buy health insurance or pay a fine...

AHLERS & CRESSMAN, PLLC Makes Its Update Posts Available to all Subscribers and Updates Its Bond & Lien Claim Manual for 2011

Posted on February 01, 2011
Dear Client/Friend:For the last two years, our firm has been providing its clients and friends with regular updates of new developments effecting construction contractors, owners, subcontractors and suppliers, engineers and others involved in the construction industry in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska...

Federal Government Seeks Assurances That Seattle's New Tunnel Will Not Damage Its Historic Building

Posted on January 31, 2011
The federal office building located at 909 1st Avenue in Seattle is an art deco structure built in 1933 on the National Register of Historic Places. The General Services Administration ("GSA"), the federal agency administering this federal office facility, is wondering whether its building will be damaged by shifting soils if the State proceeds forward with the new highway tunnel beneath the building's foundation...

China's Road-Building Pace Leaves U.S. In The Dust

Posted on January 28, 2011
The Chinese Ministry Transport announced on January 18, 2011 that its construction of twelve (12) national highways was completed thirteen (13) years ahead of schedule! That is one indication that China, in its race to build infrastructure is winning...

New Rule Expands Federal Contracting Opportunities for Women-Owned Small Businesses.

Posted on January 26, 2011
A new rule by the U.S. Small Business Administration aimed at expanding federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) becomes effective on February 4, 2011. This long-awaited regulation provides procedures authorized by the Small Business Act to help ensure a level playing field for WOSBs to compete for Federal contracting opportunities, while helping achieve the existing statutory goal that 5 percent of Federal contracting dollars go to women-owned small businesses...

The Largest Economic Development Project Underway in Anchorage Alaska is Stalled Under a Cloud of Ballooning Cost and Design Issues

Posted on January 25, 2011
The massive dock replacement project at the Port of Anchorage has been pushed back from a target date of 2011 (set before construction began) to 2021, and the price tag for the project has escalated $360 million in 2005 to $1 billion!The old Anchorage dock, the construction of which dated back to before the 1964 earthquake, was deteriorating and expensive to maintain...

Federal Government Issues New Rules to Encourage Its Contractors to Prohibit Text Messaging While Driving

Posted on January 24, 2011
In a new rule issued as a new subpart in FAR Part 23, federal contractors and subcontractors are encouraged to adopt and enforce policies that ban text messaging while driving. The new clause states that contractors should implement "new rules and programs or re-evaluation of existing programs to prohibit text messaging while driving; and education and awareness, and other out reach to employees about the safety risks associated with texting while driving...

State Attorney General Urges Tort Reform

Posted on January 21, 2011
Rob McKenna, Washington's Republican Attorney General, is urging reform of the State's negligence laws. McKenna highlights an injustice under Washington's current system of "joint and several liability," a legal concept with which contractors are very familiar...

Washington Governor Announces Plans to Consolidate State Agencies Through Creation of the Office of Civil Rights

Posted on January 19, 2011
Governor Gregoire, faced with the daunting task of closing a massive state deficit, has submitted proposals to reduce the number of state agencies from 21 to 9 agencies. The consolidation plan is expected to save $30 million while reducing the number of state positions by 125 over the next biennium...

U.S Chamber of Commerce Supports Repeal of Health Care Law

Posted on January 17, 2011
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has indicated it will support the Republican legislation in the House of Representatives to repeal President Obama's health care reform law but signaled that the Chamber will not employ the same "scorched-earth" tactics it utilized last year...

Engineering Marvel....Hoover Dam Bridge

Posted on January 17, 2011
Click here to view the file

Washington State Department of Transportation Awards $1.35 Billion Contract to Seattle Tunnel Partners

Posted on January 14, 2011
The biggest single contract ($1.35 billion) in Washington State history, was awarded on Friday, January 7, 2011 to Seattle Tunnel Partners to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a bored tunnel. With incentives, the maximum amount of the contract could grow to $1...

Lewis –McChord Continues To Be A Major Economic Engine In Peirce County

Posted on January 13, 2011
In January 2010, the U.S. Army's Fort Lewis and U.S. Airforce McCord Airforce Base were combined. Now the combined base is the largest military installation west of the Mississippi river and the third largest employer in the state of Washington.A new study indicates that the joint base Lewis-McChord will pump billions of dollars into the Pierce County economy over the next few years...

Governor Gregoire Seeks Revamp of State Worker's Compensation

Posted on January 11, 2011
Faced with virtually doubling worker's compensation rates for construction companies (See blog dated December 22, 2010), a state budget debacle looming on the horizon and the state's economy in shambles, Governor Chris Gregoire has now turned her attention to revising the State's worker's compensation...

Contractor's Bonding and Insurance Company (CBIC) Purchased By RLI Corporation of Illinois

Posted on January 10, 2011
Washington State Contractor Registration statutes require that all contractors be licensed (or registered) and bonded. Many of the contractors in the state of Washington obtain their registration bonds from Contractor's Bonding and Insurance Company (CBIC)...

Now That The Republicans Have Taken Over The House- What Does That Spell For Infrastructure Investment?

Posted on January 05, 2011
Advocates for federal funding of infrastructure are concerned how the November 2, 2010 mid-term election will affect public works spending. The mid-term election restored the Republicans to power in the House and decreased the Democratic majority. One of the Republican campaign centerpieces was "A Pledge to America" which promised spending cuts and a decrease in the size of government, the document however was silent on infrastructure spending...

Airport Security – What Would Ben Do?

Posted on January 04, 2011
Recently, I came across this quote from American statesman, founding father and signor of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin:"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety...

Summary of New 2010 Tax Law as it Effects Construction Industry

Posted on January 03, 2011
Below is a link to a good summary of the impact the new tax law has on the construction community. This summary was made by Engineering News Record (E&R).Please click here to read the summary.

Washington State Leads the Nation in Construction Jobs Lost

Posted on December 29, 2010
Washington State led the nation in construction jobs lost from October 2010 to November 2010 (4,200 construction jobs lost). Year-over-year Washington has lost 9,200 jobs, a drop of 6.3%. Other states, such as California, have had a 6.4% loss, whereas Nevada has seen the steepest percentage decline, a 22% loss...

Federal Bid Protests Continue on the Rise

Posted on December 28, 2010
The present economic environment has fostered fierce competition among construction contractors who are vying for the remaining public work projects. The General Accountability Office ("GAO") reports that bid protests have increased for the fourth straight year...

Virginia District Court Strikes Down Key Provision of Obama Health Care Law as Unconstitutional

Posted on December 26, 2010
Virginia's Attorney General filed a cause of action against the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to prevent enforcement of a provision in the Obama Care law. The new health care law requires Americans to "purchase health insurance for themselves and their dependents subject to a civil penalty...

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