Construction Law

Paradoxes

Posted on July 20, 2009
For the past six months or so, I've been using ConsensusDOCS agreement forms wherever I can reasonably do so ---- meaning that I'm using them for projects on which there is not an owner or architect who insists on using AIA documents. I usually represent owners, have used many AIA standard form agreements over the years (with modifications) and continue to use them...

ConsensusDOCS for Public Contracts? Yes, In South Dakota

Posted on June 18, 2009
It will be interesting to see how quickly South Dakota begins using ConsensusDOCS for public contracts after the February 2009 legislation permitting the use of the "ConsensusDOCS 200 Standard Agreement and General Conditions Between Owner and Contractor...

How do you measure damages when a construction blunder saves an owner $200 million?

Posted on March 23, 2009
A recent story out of Las Vegas, covered in the NY Times, poses an interesting question for construction and real estate lawyers ---- what would be the measure of damages for defective construction, the result of which is estimated to save the owner at least $200 million?The Harmon hotel tower, part of MGM Mirage's acclaimed $9 billion development called the CityCenter, had been designed as a 48-story tower, the upper 20 floors to be luxury condominiums...

Employee Free Choice Act Reintroduced; Battle Lines Are Already Drawn

Posted on March 13, 2009
On Tuesday, March 10, George Miller (D-CA), Chairman of the House Education and Labor Reform Committee, introduced the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 1409). Asserting that the bill would ?give workers the ability to stand up for themselves? and heralding the effort as a key component of economic recovery, Chairman Miller insisted the EFCA would restore employee rights...

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Real Estate Developers Ask for a Bailout

Posted on December 23, 2008
The WSJ and the Washington Post report that some of the country's biggest commercial property developers have sought out government assistance as debt comes due.Although the numbers vary by source, roughly $530 billion in commercial mortgages will be coming due in the next three years, with $160 - $400 billion coming due in 2009...

Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) Releases Online Safety Proposals

Posted on December 22, 2008
The Family Online Safety Institute ("FOSI") released its report Making Wise Choices Online in which it provides a survey of ongoing initiatives to ensure the safety of children using the Internet as well as four policy proposals for the coming Administration to consider...

Entrepreneur Removes Home From the Power Grid with the Help of LEDs

Posted on December 08, 2008
Eric Taub of the New York Times posted an interesting story this morning about Dean Kamen, the eccentric inventor of the Segway scooter. Mr. Kamen owns a small, three-acre island off the coast of Connecticut where he built his home, and he recently decided to take his entire island off the power grid--that is, produce his own electrical power (in this case through wind and solar)...

Infrastructure Projects In the Obama Administration --- a Bright Spot In An Otherwise Gloomy Future

Posted on December 03, 2008
From the early days of his presidential campaign, President-Elect Obama has emphasized the importance, and priority, of rebuilding our nation's infrastructure. At first, this was not particularly tied to the goal of job creation, or at least that part of the equation was not stressed...

AASHE Conference Highlights Sustainability Agenda, Colleges and Local Governments

Posted on November 26, 2008
The second biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) was held at the new Raleigh (NC) Convention Center from November 9-12. The purpose of the conference was to provide a "unique opportunity for every sector of higher education in the United States & Canada to come together to demonstrate how colleges and universities can lead the way to a sustainable future...

Ten Battle-tested Rules for Communicating Well in Hard Times

Posted on November 10, 2008
The line of organizations delivering bad news these days is a long one. And with the financial market challenges causing a ripple effect across the broader economy, that line may be long across America for some time. Communicating tough news is an unenviable task, and legal advisers are increasingly called upon to guide clients through the delivery of news that can be jarring: layoffs, declining profits, product recalls and ethical breaches, to name a few...

Architects Feel the Hit

Posted on October 31, 2008
A recent article in Architectural Record describes the economic downturn's effect on design firms, and the gloomy forecast for the forseeable future. According to the article, retail and hotel building will fall 10 per cent in 2009, with office construction constricting by 12 percent...

Housing Construction Decline Hits Long-time Construction Supply Company

Posted on October 27, 2008
Stock Building Supply, established 86 years ago in Raleigh, North Carolina as Carolina Builders, "is slashing 3,000 jobs and closing 86 facilities in six states as it struggles with the biggest housing slump in more than six decades" reports the News & Observer...

Zero Trans fat Homes?

Posted on October 23, 2008
Michelle Kaufmann, an architect known for her line of prefab homes, recently proposed a standardized "nutrition" label to communicate the benefits of a green building to potential buyers. She notes that we traditionally buy a home based on qualities like location, curb appeal, size, and upfront costs, but exclude important factors like sustainability, healthfulness of the indoor environment, and the cost of operating a home...

House Energy Bill Seeks Improved Energy Efficiency and Green Development for the Built Environment

Posted on September 23, 2008
On Tuesday of last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the much talked about energy bill, H.R. 6899, by a vote of 236 to 189. Politicians and the press have spent a great deal of energy focusing on this year's hot button issue, offshore drilling, but the bill also includes a number of provisions that could have an impact on sustainable development and construction...

California's Green Building Standard

Posted on September 16, 2008
California's Green Building Standard, adopted by the California Building Standards Commission on July 18, 2008, appears to remain the only state-wide green building standard in existence --- which is somewhat surprising, given the sudden popularity of "going green" in so many business sectors...

First Measure to Link Transportation Funding to Urban Planning

Posted on September 11, 2008
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that a revolutionary bill has just passed both houses of the California legislature and is on its way to Governor Schwarzenegger's desk for his signature or veto. The Bill, Senate Bill 375, intends to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by rewarding cities and counties that prevent sprawl and improve public transportation...

Another Construction Nightmare

Posted on September 10, 2008
The Womble Carlyle Fair Labor Standards Act Law Blog chronicles the Act with a particular emphasis on the southeast United States. In a blog entry posted yesterday, Charlie Edwards focuses on the increase in new construction industry filings in several specific areas, including a dispute over what constitutes compensible time for purposes of recording worked time...

BIM for Facilities Management

Posted on August 28, 2008
Today I listened in on a webinar presented by Autodesk on the subject of BIM in Facilities Management. Although I am a construction lawyer, not an architect or a facilities manager, I could readily see the value of BIM to facilities managers. To be able to have at one's fingertips complete information on all your facilities, including the physical structure, the mechanical and electrical systems, furnishings, furniture and equipment is quite remarkable...

Couple Runs Afoul with Implied Warranty of Habitability

Posted on August 25, 2008
A recent NC case arises from an Outer Banks construction lot in Duck, which according to an online resource on Duck is a town established in the 1870?s and named for the many ducks and water fowl in the area. A migratory town with around 500 full time residents, nearly a quarter million people flock there every summer...

The Hidden Risks of Going Green

Posted on August 19, 2008
In a recent article entitled "The Hidden Risks of Green Buildings: Avoiding Moisture and Mold Problems", authors J. David Odom, Richard Scott and George H. DuBose of the Liberty Building Forensics Group, LLC caution owners and other parties thinking of building a "sustainable" or "green" building to pay close attention to the materials being used to determine whether the materials have been adequately tested to ensure that the materials not only qualify as sustainable or LEED certified materials, but also to ensure that the materials are durable and will last as long as other non-green materials...

Mutual Waiver of Consequential Damages Re-Visited

Posted on August 06, 2008
From an Owner's perspective, the mutual waiver of consequences damages that was introduced into the AIA standard form design and construction contracts in 1997 and survives in the 2007 edition of these contracts continues to be problematic. While Architects and Contractors embrace this waiver, it is not so good for owners...

Centralizing International Study on Campus: FedEx Global Education Center at UNC-Chapel Hill

Posted on August 04, 2008
As noted in the "Buildings and Grounds" blog of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and recently highlighted at the Society for College and University Planning?s annual conference in Montreal, UNC-Chapel Hill has gathered its various international program elements under one roof at The FedEx Global Education Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, designed by Leers Weinzapfel Associates, and Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee...

NC Court of Appeals Holds That Risk Allocation Provision Does Not Violate North Carolina Anti-Indemnification Statute

Posted on July 28, 2008
Indemnification and limitation of liability provisions are commonplace in construction contracts. By statute in North Carolina (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 22B?1 (2007)), any contractual agreement relating to the design, planning, construction, alteration, repair or maintenance of a building, road, appurtenance or appliance purporting to indemnify a party against liability for damages caused by such party?s own negligence, in whole or part, is unenforceable...

Mobile Art Pavilion will make stop in Central Park - Then Disappear...

Posted on July 25, 2008
According to a story in the July 24 New York Times, a traveling art building (of sorts) designed by London architect Zaha Hadid is heading to Central Park this fall. The "Mobile Art" pavilion will showcase works of contemporary artists as well as advertise for its sponsor, Chanel...

Builders Instituting Lender Liability Lawsuits

Posted on July 24, 2008
The Wall Street Journal reports that the "love affair" between lenders and builders that existed during the housing boom is over, and the lender liability lawsuits that characterized the real-estate downturn in the early 1990s are making a comeback.Builders are beginning to file suits against lenders contending that the lenders forced the builders and their projects into insolvency by acting in bad faith...

Indemnification Provisions --- Owner-Architect Agreements

Posted on July 14, 2008
Owners routinely require an indemnification in their agreements with architects. Architects frequently ask that the indemnification obligation be mutual, citing "fairness" as the reason.On the surface, it does seem fair for a contractual indemnity obligation to be mutual --- but in a professional design contract, it is actually fair for it to be one-sided, i...

Italian Architect Poised To Build 80-Story Tower With Revolving Floors Powered By Wind Turbines

Posted on July 09, 2008
It looks like Dubai will get yet another amazing feat of construction if David Fisher has his way. The Italian architect recently announced "the launch of a revolutionary skyscraper in Dubai dubbed as the 'world's first building in motion,' an 80-story tower with revolving floors that give it an ever-shifting shape...

Court Doesn?t Leak Out Remedy for Homeowner?s Defective Roof

Posted on June 24, 2008
An unhappy homeowner sued a roofing contractor for roof defects seven years after her roof was installed. Roemer v. Preferred Roofing, Inc., 660 S.E.2d 920 (N.C. App. 2008) (NC Lawyers Weekly No. 08-07-0634). The homeowner alleged negligence, breach of contract and breach of warranty, seeking only monetary damages...

USGBC to Outsource LEED Certification

Posted on June 19, 2008
GreenSource, a publication of McGraw Hill (publisher of ENR), reports that the US Green Building Council (USGBC) is preparing to outsource certification of buildings for its multitude of LEED rating systems. Outsourcing is intended to bring LEED into alignment with norms established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for certification programs, which norms require the standard-setting organization to be separate from the certification organization...

NC Supreme Court Alters Incorporation by Reference

Posted on June 16, 2008
A recent case handed down by the North Carolina Supreme Court is likely to have a significant impact on how construction contracts are drafted in North Carolina.In Schenkel & Shultz, Inc. v. Hermon F. Fox & Associates, 685 S.E.2d 918 (2008), the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the standard practice of incorporating the entirety of a prime contract into a subprime contract (e...

19 Awards for Campus Architecture, Buildings, Plans and Landscapes

Posted on June 12, 2008
The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) and the Committee on Architecture for Education of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-CAE) have announced 19 awards in the areas of architecture, campus planning and landscape architecture...

Dim on BIM?

Posted on June 06, 2008
Sure the future of Building Information modeling (BIM) is bright, but the path to that future has a temporary dim - based on complaints from folks in the construction industry.A recent survey of structural engineers reveals a sunny forecast - 74% of respondents think they will have to use BIM to meet their client needs in less than 12 months...

Elon University joins growing list of "greening" campuses

Posted on May 30, 2008
On May 21, Elon University, located in Elon, North Carolina, broke ground on Lindner Hall, planned to be the "greenest" facility on campus. The 30,000-square-foot building will house administrative offices and various academic departments and include high-tech classrooms, a computer lab, faculty offices and space for student-faculty mentoring...

Full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Lower Court's Holding in Garcia v. Brockway

Posted on May 16, 2008
In a case that is being closely watched in the multi-family housing industry, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week released its opinion affirming the lower court's holding that the 2-year statute of limitations for a private civil action alleging violation of the Fair Housing Act's accessibility requirements for design and construction is triggered, i...

"What is a BIM?"

Posted on May 14, 2008
This question is the first FAQ on the website of the Facility Information Council (FIC) describing the FIC's initiative to develop a National BIM Standard. I was intrigued because I usually hear the question asked as "What is BIM", not "What is a BIM?"The FIC's definition of "a BIM" is elegant...

Digging Up Bones: New Provisions in the AIA A201 Impose New Obligations on Contractors

Posted on May 13, 2008
Recently, neighbors of mine decided to sell the family farm that has been in their family for almost 200 years. We know that the property has been in the family for this long based on the family cemetery plot located on the last bit of acreage that has not been subsumed by the surrounding neighborhoods that have swallowed what was originally about 100 acres of farmland...

Campus Construction Not Hit by Sluggish Economy

Posted on May 06, 2008
Despite a slow economy, one sector where construction is not being postponed is on college campuses. According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, some universities are even trying to speed up projects to limit the damage done by rising construction costs...

NC Supreme Court Questions Lien Law Heirarchy

Posted on April 30, 2008
In Carolina Building Services' Windows & Doors, Inc. v. Boardwalk, LLC, ___ N.C. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (April 11, 2008), the Supreme Court of North Carolina threw into question "the lien law hierarchy" created by North Carolina General Statutes 44A-7 through 24 and held that a default judgment in favor of an owner of real property against its general contractor cannot form the basis for extinguishing a subcontractor's lien on such real property...

Professional Liability Insurance for BIM

Posted on April 24, 2008
In working on an architectural services agreement recently, I struggled with how to address professional liability for the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Its anticipated use on the project is by the Architect and its consultants, with potential input from a construction manager...

Fair Housing Act Accessibility: Examples of Covered Multi-Family Dwellings

Posted on April 17, 2008
As litigation over Fair Housing Act (FHA) design and construction accessibility requirements continues to increase around the country, we are getting more and more questions about what kinds of multi-family housing are, in fact, subject to these requirements...

Getting More Green by Going Green: New Study Finds Strong Economic Case for Developing Green Buildings

Posted on April 09, 2008
In recent weeks, there have been a number of news articles published on the growing trend among owners, developers and contractors in the area of "green" building and "sustainable development". Until recently, most buildings that obtained LEED certification were mostly found in the areas of higher education and government according to the U...

Choosing an Insurer for Builder's Risk

Posted on April 06, 2008
In assisting a client evaluate alternative proposals for providing builder's risk coverage recently, I prepared a sort of "checklist" of issues to be considered when comparing the policy forms of two different insurers (builder's risk policy forms are not standard, thus each insurer's policy form needs to be reviewed and evaluated)...

Full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to Hear Fair Housing Accessibility Case on March 25, 2008

Posted on April 04, 2008
Some time ago, we reported on the Garcia v. Brockway case (503 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir.2007), an important fair housing accessibility lawsuit. At issue is when the two-year statute of limitations for actions alleging defective design and/or construction under the Fair Housing Act begins to run --- when construction is completed, or when the alleged violation is discovered...

National Green Building Standard Almost Ready

Posted on March 25, 2008
In a previous posting we discussed the new green building standard being developed jointly by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the International Code Council (ICC) and the NAHB Research Center. The new standard is intended to be seamlessly incorporated into existing building codes, thereby providing a code-based standard for jurisdictions considering mandatory green building requirements...

"Free lancing" procurement for campus construction projects may lead to criminal investigation in Maryland

Posted on March 05, 2008
State legislators in Maryland have been grilling Morgan State University officials after an audit brought the university's method of construction spending into question. As reported in the Baltimore Sun and in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the legislative audit revealed that Morgan State, which is not part of the University of Maryland system but receives state funding, "had padded a $4...

Homebuilders Association?s New Green Building Program: Blue Skies Ahead?

Posted on February 28, 2008
In a February 20, 2008, article, Engineering News-Record reports that the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is working with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to introduce a new voluntary and flexible green building program that will apply to both new home construction and remodeling projects...

ABA Forum Meets in New York to Discuss New 2007 AIA Contract Documents

Posted on February 19, 2008
On January 31, 2008, the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry (the "Forum") met in New York City to discuss the new 2007 American Institute of Architects ("AIA") Contract Documents. In a widely attended program with close to 1000 attendees present to enjoy the Forum's Midwinter Meeting entitled "The 2007 AIA Documents: New Forms, New Issues, New Strategies", members of the Forum spent the day parsing and dissecting the the 2007 changes to the AIA Contract Documents published by the AIA in November, 2007...

Collaborative Project Delivery

Posted on February 10, 2008
One of the new ConsensusDOCS contract forms is entitled "Standard Form of Tri-Party Agreement for Collaborative Project Delivery" (ConsensusDOCS 300). The tri-party, as one would expect, consists of the Owner, the Designer, and the Constructor. The contract form incorporates many concepts that are foreign, and probably antithetical, to traditional project delivery methods...

For Sale: Reclaimed Wastewater

Posted on February 06, 2008
It is not a news flash that there has been a drought in North Carolina and many other regions in the country. Construction companies use a great deal of water, so the drought conditions and water restrictions have been a challenge to many contractors working in drought areas...

Landmark Supreme Court Decision Could Expose Businesses To N.C. Consumer Class Actions And More

Posted on February 04, 2008
In a landmark decision by a divided court, the Supreme Court of North Carolina declared an arbitration clause in a consumer loan agreement unconscionable. The case, Tillman et al v. Commercial Credit Loans, Inc. et al, is important to all businesses contracting with N...

Architecture and the University: Inventing Something Bold and Reinventing the Old

Posted on January 29, 2008
Separate items reported on January 28 in The Chronicle of Higher Education reflect the range of architectural and construction opportunities on today's college campus. At a recent Yale University symposium entitled ?Building the Future: the University as Architectural Patron,? speakers promoted innovation and advocated that a campus should consider its physical place in the broader community with ?lively, informed discourse about architecture and its role...

Can a Letter of Credit Substitute for a Performance and Payment Bond?

Posted on January 16, 2008
An owner was confronted recently with a circumstance in which a contractor that the owner really wanted to use was unable to obtain a bond for the project. The contractor was a small company, but had successfully built other projects for the owner. This project, however, would be the largest ever undertaken by the contractor, and was beyond the contractor's bonding capacity...

Window Washer Defies Laws ? Of Gravity and Nature

Posted on January 14, 2008
In case you haven?t heard around the water cooler, a window washer fell off a 47 story New York skyscraper and lived. Sure he was hurt ? some injuries to his brain, spinal column, ribs, abdomen and multiple broken bones in his arm and both legs, but doctors report a miraculous recovery...

North Carolina General Assembly Strives for Efficiency in 2007

Posted on December 21, 2007
As we reflect on the legislation enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly that impacts the construction industry in 2007, the goal of the General Assembly for 2007 can be summarized in a single word: efficiency. The need for energy efficient buildings, efficient cost practices, and efficient review of construction plans that will allow outdated buildings to be renovated and many needed new public buildings to be built more rapidly appears to be the primary objective for 2007...

AIA Study: Green Wave

Posted on December 13, 2007
According to an article recently published in AIArchitect for the week of December 7, 2007, the American Institute of Architects recently completed a study of current green building laws and the effectiveness of green building programs in American cities with a population of more than 50,000...

Changes to the AIA Owner-Architect Agreement

Posted on December 11, 2007
In November of 2007, the American Institute of Architects ("AIA") released significant revisions to many of its standard form design and construction agreements. The AIA?s Standard Form of Agreement between Owner and Architect (AIA?s B101-2007) varies greatly from its 1997 predecessors (AIA B141 and B151)...

Furman University's "Center for Sustainability" - a "green" house stylish enough for Southern Living

Posted on December 05, 2007
Growing interest in sustainable housing and energy-conscious construction is reflected on the campus of Furman University, which is in the midst of building Cliffs Cottage, to be featured in Southern Living magazine next year. As reported in the Buildings & Grounds blog of The Chronicle of Higher Education"The house will be a showcase green design and construction methods, and it will be certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program...

2007 AIA A201 General Conditions of the Contract for Construction: Proceed with Caution

Posted on December 04, 2007
On November 8, 2007, The American Institute of Architects ("AIA"), released its decennial revisions of the AIA family of documents. For those who may be thinking they will simply insert these brand new documents in future contract negotiations, you may do so at your peril...

Green Building is killing birds at Emory University

Posted on December 03, 2007
Reflective glass on the Mathematics and Science building at Emory University is so attractive that dozens of birds confuse the view, smashing into the panes during migratory season. The problem is not unique to Emory, however. "Turns out, environmentally friendly buildings are often bird killers...

Too much celebrating?

Posted on November 14, 2007
Alleging serious design and construction defects in its Stata Center, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology just sued two heavyweights: Frank Gehry's firm, Gehry Partners, based in L.A., and Skanska. The Stata Center opened to much acclaim in 2004, when Mr...

SOL Countdown

Posted on November 12, 2007
Statute of Limitations ("SOL") cases can be complicated, and my mission in this space is to keep this simple. The case is Baum v. John R. Poore Builder, Inc., 643 S.E.2d 607 (N.C. App. 2007). Climb aboard and I?ll share the story. North Carolina Homeowners sued a Builder, Tile Subcontractor and Engineer for construction problems with their deck...

AIA Launches New Contract Documents

Posted on November 08, 2007
On November 7, the AIA formally introduced 40 revised, new or renumbered contract documents and commentaries. The AIA touts its contract documents as the most widely used standard form agreements in the construction industry, a claim that is supported by an article appearing in the November 5 issue of Engineering News-Record entitled "AIA Forms Running Far Ahead of Rivals" (subscription required)...

Florida Court of Appeals: A201 Arbitration Requirement Survives Termination of the Contract

Posted on November 01, 2007
I recently noted in the September 2007 edition of the Construction Litigation Reporter an interesting case dealing with the timing of a party's decision to terminate a contract and that party's subsequent ability to invoke the arbitration provisions contained in the AIA A201-1997...

BIM FORUM Drafting an Addendum to ConsensusDOCS

Posted on October 27, 2007
hThe BIM Forum meeting in Boston (see my prior post on the Forum here) was preceded by last month?s initial release of ConsensusDOCS, the standard form contract software series created through the collaboration of Associated General Contractors of America (?AGC?) along with a host of other owner, surety, contractor, and subcontractor-related trade groups...

Leading Construction Lawyer Identifies Ten ?Industry Transformational Trends?

Posted on October 26, 2007
Patrick J. O?Connor, Esquire, the outgoing editor of Under Construction, the newsletter of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry, wrote an interesting article in the August 2007 issue of Under Construction. In Mr. O?Connor?s view, the next ten years will be the most exciting time to practice construction law in a generation, because the industry will be undergoing transformational change...

BIM Forum Discusses Implementation Strategies

Posted on October 22, 2007
The BIM Forum, a remarkable group of construction industry professionals, convened October 11 -12 in Boston to discuss delivery of design and construction services in the digital age ? and, in particular, the role of building information modeling (?BIM?) in that process...

Architects: Business Conditions Strong, But Slowing

Posted on October 15, 2007
A recently published survey of business conditions by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) concludes that business conditions remain relatively healthy in most regions in the country. Geographically, strongest business conditions were reported in the Western Mountain, Texas and Middle Atlantic regions...

LEED for Neighborhood Development

Posted on October 01, 2007
The U.S. Green Building Council recently announced that 238 development projects throughout the nation will participate in its pilot program for LEED for Neighborhood Development. The Neighborhood Development Rating System "integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism, and green building into the first national standard for neighborhood design...

International Code Council and U.S. Green Building Council Form Strategic Alliance

Posted on October 01, 2007
The ICC and the USGBC recently entered into a memorandum of understand (MOU) memorializing their agreement to work together on public policy issues on which the interests of both organizations are aligned. The MOU acknowledges the ICC?s leading role in fostering safety for the built environment and the USGBC?s leading role in advocating sustainability in the building marketplace...

Substantial Similarity Test: Altered by Reality?

Posted on September 17, 2007
In a recent case in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, two architectural firms sought the Court's guidance with respect to whether one of the firms had infringed the copyright of the other firms design and site plans. In Tiseo Architects, Inc...

Even without contractually-required change order, contractor recovers additional HVAC costs against owner on summary judgment

Posted on September 07, 2007
The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently upheld a summary judgment decision in favor of Inland Construction Company, a general commercial contractor, for additional HVAC costs on a job where no change order was issued or executed. The Court agreed with the trial judge, Hon...

Did Georgia Unintentionally Codify its Broad Form Indemnification Loophole?

Posted on September 04, 2007
On May 18, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed H.B. 136, a bill that was intended to expand the state's prohibition against broad form indemnification to include those situations in which the indemnitor was required to obtain liability insurance, effectively closing a loophole created by the Georgia Court of Appeals decision in McAbee Const...

Changes to Georgia Contractor License

Posted on August 24, 2007
As Georgia?s implementation of its new residential and general contractor licensing statute progresses, this year?s General Assembly made several changes ? among the most significant being:The statute?s final implementation date was extended by six months ? to July 1, 2008...

Shifting Tides of New Contractor Retainage Legislation - North Carolina Public Projects

Posted on August 22, 2007
On June 12, 2007, my colleague Culley Carson posted a blog entry entitled "Public Owners Beware: Legislation in North Carolina General Assembly Will Cap Retainage in Public Construction Projects." A variation of this legislation was recently ratified and signed into law by the Governor on August 17, 2007...

Florida Researchers to Huff, Puff, and Blow Houses Down

Posted on August 18, 2007
The Wall Street Journal reports that Florida International University and a reinsurer (providers of insurance for insurance companies) are finding ways to help buildings survive hurricane season. They have developed a tool, dubbed the Wall of Wind, to test the effects of hurricane force winds and rain on full-scale, low-rise residential buildings...

Builder?s Dream Home a Bit of a Nightmare

Posted on July 25, 2007
A Lake Norman, North Carolina homeowner gave a builder "consent" to use plans copyrighted by an architect as long as he built 30 miles away, because "[she] felt with all we had paid, we owned the plans at that time." All was fine until the builder?s subcontractor asked the architect for clarification on how to build the windows in the French-country style house...

EPA Touts Increased Construction of Energy Star Complaint Homes

Posted on July 19, 2007
A JULY 12, 2007 PRESS RELEASE FROM THE EPA NEWSROOM READS:In 2006, the percentage of newly constructed single family homes earning the government's Energy Star for superior energy efficiency exceeded 12 percent in 15 states. The 15 leading states are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Vermont...