By: Margery Newman Subcontractors are often required to sign contracts with onerous clauses. Frequently, they are not even aware of the potential risk involved in the contracts they sign. Below are some of the more onerous clauses provided by the American Subcontractors Association. We discuss language to be wary of […]

By: Samuel Levine An intensely litigated area of construction law revolves around insurance. When is a complaint sufficient to trigger a duty to defend? What constitutes an occurrence? When can an insured recover for property damage caused by an occurrence? These questions are further complicated by different courts’ interpretations among […]

By: Geoffrey Bryce Proposed House Bill Amendment: IL HB2838 A contractor who enters into a contract on or after July 1, 2019 in Illinois is liable for any debt incurred by a subcontractor owed to a wage claimant or third-party on the wage claimant’s behalf. The proposed amendment means a […]

By: Werner Sabo A federal court in Louisiana recently held that a “reasonably acceptable” provision related to final payment was enforceable. The court reviewed the provision in Team Contractors LLC v. Waypoint Nola, LLC, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45821 (March 20, 2019; below is the provision’s text. § 5.2 FINAL […]

By: Julius Shapiro If you own a commercial property, you should anticipate certain work order requests and be prepared with stipulations and guidelines. The following is general information for work orders between landlords and commercial office tenants. This does not pertain to retail or restaurant leases, though it may be […]

By: Bob Bramlette When negotiating a contract to sell a commercial building, there are some issues a seller should always remember. Those key points are listed below. Buyer. Make certain that the broker is only bringing you “qualified” buyers. You don’t want to waste time and expense negotiating with buyers […]

By: Geoffrey Bryce In October 2018, the Ohio Supreme Court finally determined whether a subcontractor’s defective work could be considered an “occurrence” for triggering coverage under an upstream contractor’s CGL policy. In Ohio Northern University v. Charles Construction Services (2018-Ohio-4057, 2018 Ohio LEXIS 2375, 2018 WL 4926159), the court ruled […]

By: Werner Sabo Most construction contracts include dispute resolution provisions, including situations where the parties decide not to use industry-standard agreements. Using custom language in such provisions poses real danger, including potential litigation regarding the meaning of the contract. Below are two recent cases that illustrate this danger. 1.    Did the […]

By: Tina M. Paries Owners who experience latent defects in their newly-constructed homes often find that they have no recourse if the developer is no longer in business. Under traditional contract principles, owners cannot seek to recover from the subcontractors who actually performed the defective work because there is no […]

By: Werner Sabo Many construction agreements, including the AIA documents, include a waiver of consequential damages. For instance, the 2017 version of B101, the owner-architect agreement states as follows: 8.1.3 The Architect and Owner waive consequential damages for claims, disputes, or other matters in question arising out of or relating to […]