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Suffolk Construction Drywall Suits Involve Claim for $3 Million in Court Costs

November 11, 2024 — Richard Korman - Engineering News-Record
Suffolk Construction lost a breach-of-contract contract lawsuit in July with a former drywall subcontractor's surety—but the contractor's payout may dramatically increase if the presiding U.S. district court judge in Miami allows the surety to collect $3 million more in requested attorneys' fees and trial costs. Reprinted courtesy of Richard Korman, Engineering News-Record Mr. Korman may be contacted at kormanr@enr.com Read the full story...

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Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (7/17/24) – Housing Inflation to Remain High, Proptech Investment to Fall and Office Vacancy Rates to Reach Peak in 2025

August 26, 2024 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, construction backlog to see positives signs, regional banks to be conservative on buybacks, U.S. metro areas to permit few new housing units, and more!

• Venture capital investments in proptech and adjacent companies fell 14.3% in the first half of the year. (Leslie Shaver, Multifamily Dive)
• The expectation of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve later this year due to easing inflation and cooling economic growth is a positive sign for construction backlog. (Sebastian Obando, Construction Dive)
• The U.S. office real estate sector is now in three markets, each with different performance, but the overall office vacancy rate will reach a 21.6% peak in the second half of 2025. (Nish Amarnath, Construction Dive)

Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

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NLRB Finalizes Rule for Construction Industry Unions to Obtain Majority Support Representational Status

September 23, 2024 — Aaron C. Schlesinger - Peckar & Abramson, P.C.
On July 26, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its Fair Choice – Employee Voice Final Rule (“Final Rule”), which takes effect September 30, 2024. The Final Rule eases the process for unions in the construction industry to convert their status as collective bargaining representative of bargaining unit employees from Section 8(f) to 9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) simply by placing certain recognitional acceptance language in their collective bargaining agreements. As a result, construction industry employers should review their collective bargaining agreements prior to signing to determine if such language exists. Section 9(a) Non-Construction Industry Employers In most industries, not including construction, union recognitional status as collective bargaining representative of the employer’s employees is governed by Section 9(a) of the Act. In order for a Union to obtain recognitional status under Section 9(a), the union must either: (1) file a petition with the NLRB showing support of 30% of the proposed bargaining unit via employee executed authorization cards and win an election of 51% of the employees in the proposed bargaining unit who actually vote; or (2) by reaching an agreement with the employer that the union possesses employee executed authorization cards from 51% of the proposed bargaining unit, which has been confirmed by a neutral arbitrator pursuant to a card count. Once such status is achieved, the union and employer are required to meet and bargain towards reaching a collective bargaining agreement covering the terms and conditions of employment of the union represented employees. A Section 9(a) union cannot have its recognitional status revoked absent the loss of majority support of the employees it represents. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Aaron C. Schlesinger, Peckar & Abramson, P.C.
Mr. Schlesinger may be contacted at aschlesinger@pecklaw.com

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Florida Issues Emergency Fraud Prevention Rule to Protect Policyholders in Wake of Catastrophic Storms

November 05, 2024 — Geoffrey B. Fehling & Olivia G. Bushman - Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog
Last week, just before Hurricane Milton made landfall, Florida state officials issued an emergency decree to all licensed insurance adjusters in the state to protect homeowners against “unfair and deceptive acts” and “post-storm fraud” by insurance carriers. According to The Washington Post, the Florida Department of Financial Services is requiring that all claim adjusters provide an explanation for each change they make to a consumer’s loss estimate, document those changes, and retain all versions of the estimate and identify who made those revisions. When processing claims, adjusters must also use an electronic estimating system that provides an itemized report of all damage, as well as labor, materials, equipment and supplies. Those costs should be consistent with what a contractor or a repair company in that particular area would charge. “Property damage from Hurricane Milton will be catastrophic and may result in billions of dollars in property losses,” the emergency rule states. “Fair and transparent loss estimates and claims adjustments will be crucial to ensure Floridians are properly and fairly compensated under the terms of their property insurance contracts, while also ensuring ongoing insurer solvency after potentially momentous financial losses.” Reprinted courtesy of Geoffrey B. Fehling, Hunton Andrews Kurth and Olivia G. Bushman, Hunton Andrews Kurth Mr. Fehling may be contacted at gfehling@HuntonAK.com Ms. Bushman may be contacted at obushman@HuntonAK.com Read the full story...

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Insurers' Motion to Determine Lack of Occurrence Fails

August 19, 2024 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The federal district court, interpreting Massachusetts law, found there were genuine issues of fact as to whether the insured's mixing of biodiesel with home heating fuel was an occurrence. United States Fire Ins. Co. v. Peterson's Oil Serv., Inc., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106980 (D. Mass. June 17, 2024). Homeowners sued Peterson's Oil Service, alleging that Peterson sold them fuel for home heating which contained more that 5% biodiesel. The homeowners further alleged that fuel containing more than 5% biodiesel did not meet industry standards and caued damage to their home heating equipment. Peterson allegedly did not fully disclose the presence of biodiesel in their fuel, despite knowing the risk posed by high-biodiesel blended fuel. The insurers, United States Fire Insurance Company and The North River Insurance Company, defended Peterson under a reservation of rights. United States Fire issued priomary policies with limits of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 as a general aggregate limit. An endorsement titled "Limited Coverage - Failure to Supply" limited the amount covered for "property damage arising out of the failure of any insured to adequately supply gas, oil, water, electricty or steam" to $250,000. North River issued umbrella policies with additional coverage in the amount of $15,000,000 per occurrnce and in the aggregate if property damage was caused by an occurrence. The umbrella policies also contained a "Failure to Supply Exclusion" which excluded coverage for "property damage arising out of the failure of an insured to adequately supply gas, oil, water, electricty or steam." Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

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Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (9/4/24) – DOJ Sues RealPage, Housing Sales Increase and U.S. Can’t Build Homes Fast Enough

October 07, 2024 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, environmental regulations tighten for commercial properties, Wells Fargo sells most of its commercial mortgage services business, first-time home buyers struggle with housing affordability, and more!

• The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it is suing the real estate company RealPage, saying it engaged in a price-fixing scheme to drive up rents. (Jennifer Ludden, NPR)
• As environmental regulations for commercial buildings and properties tighten across the U.S., green leases and technologies offer owners and operators opportunities to reduce their portfolios’ carbon footprints, generate cost savings and further align with ESG goals. (Nish Amarnath, Construction Dive)
• Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to sell most of its commercial mortgage servicing business to Trimont LLC, ceding the title of biggest US commercial and multifamily mortgage servicer to the Atlanta-based firm. (Hannah Levitt and Scott Carpenter, Yahoo)

Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

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Takeaways From Schedule-Based Dispute Between General Contractor and Subcontractor

September 09, 2024 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
A recent opinion out of the Southern District of Florida, Berkley Insurance Co. v. Suffolk Construction Co., Case 1:19-cv-23059-KMW (S.D.Fla. July 22, 2024), provides valuable takeaways on schedule-based disputes between a general contractor and subcontractor on a high-rise project. In a nutshell, the general contractor’s original project schedule was abandoned due to project delays and the project wasn’t being built by any updated project schedule. The subcontractor claimed the general contractor was mismanaging the schedule putting unreasonable manpower and supervision constraints on it, i.e., it was working inefficiently. A bench trial was conducted and the Court found in favor of the subcontractor’s arguments. The Court found the general contractor had unrelated delays and that work activities were no longer methodical but, simply, piecemeal demands. The Court also rejected any inadequate manpower arguments finding the subcontract did not place any manpower requirements on the subcontractor. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

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Hard to Believe It, Construction Law Musings is 16

January 07, 2025 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
On this date back in 2008 (wow, that seems so long ago), I began Construction Law Musings on the Blogger platform with a brief announcement. Little did I know that this corner of the internet (or is it Blawgosphere?) would still be around in 2024! In the time since I made that short entry 16 years ago (I know, I can’t believe it either), I’ve met several construction lawyers here in Virginia who refer to me as the “blog guy.” To be recognized for the work I do here at Construction Law Musings, something that benefits me (and I hope the readers), and which I do for the fun of it, is an honor. The blog has since taken on a life of its own in many resp
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Significant Issues Test Applies to Fraudulent Claims to Determine Attorney’s Fees

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules that Insurance Salesman had No Fiduciary Duty to Policyholders

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Exceptions to Privette Doctrine Do Not Apply Where There is No Evidence a General Contractor Affirmatively Contributed to the Injuries of an Independent Contractor's Employee

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BWB&O Senior Associate Kyle Riddles and Associate Alexandria Heins Obtain a Trial Victory in a Multi-Million Dollar Case!

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