Veolia Agrees to $25M Settlement in Flint Water Crisis Case
February 19, 2024 —
James Leggate - Engineering News-RecordEngineering firm Veolia North America agreed to a $25-million settlement to resolve a federal class action case related to its work for the city of Flint, Mich., during the city’s lead-in-water crisis, the company and attorneys for the plaintiffs announced Feb. 1. Veolia is the second engineering firm that worked for the city to settle with city residents, and the deal came ahead of a class-action trial scheduled to start later this month.
Reprinted courtesy of
James Leggate, Engineering News-Record
Mr. Leggate may be contacted at leggatej@enr.com
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Claims Litigated Under Government Claims Act Must “Fairly Reflect” Factual Claims Made in Underlying Government Claim
November 27, 2023 —
Garret Murai - California Construction Law BlogUnlike horseshoes and hand grenades, close sometimes isn’t close enough.
In the next case, Hernandez v. City of Stockton, 90 Cal.App.5th 1222 (2023), the Third District Court of appeal found that a pedestrian who sued a public entity for personal injuries caused by an “uplifted sidewalk” was barred from pursuing his claim when it was revealed that he had in fact injured himself by falling into a hole left by an “empty tree well” (i.e., a tree well that did not contain a tree”). According to the Court, the pedestrian’s claim was barred because the factual basis for recovery asserted in his complaint was not “fairly reflected” in his government claim.
The Hernandez Case
In April 2018, pedestrian Manual Sanchez Hernandez injured himself while walking on a public sidewalk in Stockton, California. He submitted a government claim with the City of Stockton claiming that his injuries, which included injuries to his knee, hands and back, was caused by a dangerous condition on public property. In his government claim, Hernandez alleged that he tripped on an “uplifted sidewalk” at or near 230 E. Charter Way in Stockton, California and that his injuries were due because the City “negligently and recklessly designed, maintained and operated the subject property so as to cause [his] injuries.”
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Garret Murai, Nomos LLPMr. Murai may be contacted at
gmurai@nomosllp.com
Gibbs Giden is Pleased to Announce Four New Partners and Two New Associates
January 08, 2024 —
Gibbs Giden Locher Turner Senet & Wittbrodt, LLPWe take great pleasure in announcing that
Richard Marks and
Kyle Marks have joined the firm. They bring a combined 60 years of real property law experience to Gibbs Giden. Well known Title Insurance and seasoned real estate attorneys they have both served as chair of the Title Insurance Subsection of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and are adjunct professors at Southwestern University School of Law. We are excited to welcome these two exceptional partners and their commitment to representing clients with honesty, integrity, and excellence. You can find them in our firm’s Westlake office.
Talented attorneys
Samantha Riggen and
Christopher Trembley have been named partners. Samantha represents clients in all areas of business and commercial matters with an emphasis on construction litigation on both public and private projects. Christopher’s practice also focuses on construction litigation on behalf of a wide spectrum of industry-stakeholder clients, including suppliers, contractors, and owners. Both work in our firm’s Westlake Village office.
We are also pleased to announce we’ve hired two new associates.
Sarah La Mendola and
Madison Wedderspoon. Sarah has developed an expertise in a wide range of real estate, business, and corporate matters. She received her JD from the University of Pavia, one of the top universities in Italy, in 2012 and her LLM from UCLA in 2015. You can find Sarah in our Westlake Village office. Madison recently graduated from the Boyd School of Law cum laude, is based in our Las Vegas office and works in the areas of business law, contracts, healthcare law, construction, real estate, and common interest community transactional and litigation work.
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Gibbs Giden
9th Circuit Plumbs Through the Federal and State False Claims Acts
January 16, 2024 —
Garret Murai - California Construction Law BlogYou may have heard of the False Claims Act and know that it penalizes companies and individuals in contract with the government who present false claims. The federal False Claims Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to penalize profiteers during the Civil War who were selling the Union Army moth eaten blankets, boxes of sawdust instead of guns, and sometimes re-selling the Army calvary horses several times over. Since then, many states, including California, as well as municipalities, have enacted their own false claim statutes.
As currently written, the federal False Claims Act provides for statutory penalties against any person who:
- “[K]nowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval”;
- “[K]nowingly makes, uses or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim”;
- “[H]as possession, custody, or control of property or money used, or to be used, by the Government an knowingly delivers, or causes to be delivered, less than all of that money or property”;
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Garret Murai, Nomos LLPMr. Murai may be contacted at
gmurai@nomosllp.com
Message from the Chair: Kelsey Funes (Volume I)
November 06, 2023 —
Marissa L. Downs - The Dispute ResolverI am so honored to assume the Division 1 mantle from my friend, Tom Dunn, and look forward to carrying on his good work.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’d like to take this opportunity to share a bit about my background. I grew up in New Orleans and went to LSU for undergraduate and law school. (Geaux Tigers!) I started my practice in 1997 at Phelps Dunbar LLP in Baton Rouge, where I still practice today. I manage the litigation group in the Baton Rouge office of the firm. I practice as a construction lawyer full time and serve on the Construction Panel of the American Arbitration Association and serve as a mediator in construction cases.
I am married to Dr. Chris Funes (the world’s best pediatrician) and we are the parents to two high schoolers. My son is a high school senior and my daughter is a sophomore. So, when I am not lawyering, I have been spending my time lately touring colleges, prepping for homecoming, and helping to teach my daughter to drive (all very relaxing!!). We also have a very sweet (and very hairy) rescue dog, Maggie, who makes sure we get lots of walks.
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Marissa L. Downs, Laurie & Brennan, LLPMs. Downs may be contacted at
mdowns@lauriebrennan.com
AI and the Optimization of Construction Projects
February 19, 2024 —
Rahul Shah - Construction ExecutiveSeeking answers on how to construct smarter and greener buildings or improve water efficiency in homes and offices, those who create our buildings and construction projects are entering a new era of learning as they turn their attention to the benefits of artificial intelligence.
While human involvement will continue to be paramount, AI has the potential to assist in creating informed decisions, for example by suggesting sustainable, durable materials or cost-effective, but still safe, practices.
The possible applications of AI for the construction industry could be transformative across design, procurement, construction, operation and decommissioning. In fact,
research suggests designers and contractors are already applying AI and machine learning to manage the volumes of data involved in the design of buildings, the planning of construction projects and the day-to-day operations of sites.
Reprinted courtesy of
Rahul Shah, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
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Andrea DeField Recognized In 2024 List of Influential Business Women By South Florida Business Journal
February 19, 2024 —
Hunton Insurance Recovery BlogWe are pleased to announce that Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP insurance coverage partner Andrea DeField was named to the
South Florida Business Journal’s 2024 list of Influential Business Women. The award celebrates 25 women who have a strong record of leadership, performance and innovation in their industry, as well as meaningful community involvement. This distinction is well-deserved given Andi’s leadership in the cyber insurance space, contribution to the firm’s pro bono efforts, and longstanding record of community involvement in South Florida.
Andi and the other honorees will be featured in the March 15 special issue of the South Florida Business Journal introducing the Influential Business Women of 2024. Congratulations Andi!
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Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
DOI Aims to Modernize its “Inefficient and Inflexible” Type A Natural Resource Damages Assessment Regulations
March 25, 2024 —
Amanda G. Halter, Jillian Marullo & Ashleigh Myers - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogThe U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) published a
proposed rule aimed at modernizing and streamlining the “Type A” Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) regulations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA). (The comment deadline was later
extended.) The revisions,
first previewed in a January 2023 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR), are intended to fulfill “the original statutory purpose of providing a streamlined and simplified assessment process” with the overarching goal of facilitating settlements and expediting restoration efforts following injury resulting from pollution in a broader range of cases.
The NRDA regulations provide two paths to assessing natural resource damages (NRD): (1) the more complex, site-specific Type B procedures for detailed NRDAs and (2) what is intended to be the standard, simplified Type A assessment procedures requiring minimal field observation. Particularly, the Type A process is reserved for two specific aquatic environments (coastal and marine areas or Great Lakes environments) when a relatively minor release of a single hazardous substance occurs, resulting in a smaller scale and scope of natural resource injury, and the rebuttal presumption for the Type A procedure is limited to damages of $100,000 or less under the current version of the rule.
Reprinted courtesy of
Amanda G. Halter, Pillsbury,
Jillian Marullo, Pillsbury and
Ashleigh Myers, Pillsbury
Ms. Halter may be contacted at amanda.halter@pillsburylaw.com
Ms. Marullo may be contacted at jillian.marullo@pillsburylaw.com
Ms. Myers may be contacted at ashleigh.myers@pillsburylaw.com
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