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Construction Contracts Breach of Contract General Contractors

Phelps Dunbar

You Can Pay Me Now, or…

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The Utah Court of Appeals delivered a significant ruling – including its length, approximately 12,500 words – underscoring the critical importance of adhering to contract provisions, particularly regarding payment terms in...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Court Affirms $1 Nominal Damage Award in Wind Farm Construction Dispute

Court Affirms $1 Nominal Damage Award in Wind Farm Construction Dispute The general contractor on the 60-turbine wind farm project in Good Hope, Illinois, is entitled to collect a whopping $1 on its cost-to-complete claim...more

J.S. Held

Lessons Learned from the Recent Ruling on Contractor Responsibilities in Delay and Inefficiency Claims

J.S. Held on

The recent ruling in Berkley Insurance Company v. Suffolk Construction Company, issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, has highlighted several significant lessons for subcontractors,...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Proportional Fault Indemnification Provisions Held Enforceable in Alabama

The Alabama Supreme Court found that an indemnification provision was enforceable that required a subcontractor to indemnify a general contractor on a proportional-fault basis against liability for death or personal injury. ...more

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC

Subcontracting Lessons on Indemnity Provisions, Consistency of Contract Terms and Estoppel From the SC Court of Appeals

The Retreat at Charleston National Country Club Home Owners Ass’n, Inc. v. Winston Carlyle Charleston National, LLC, S.C. App. Case No. 2021-001050, Opinion No. 6099 (Feb. 12, 2025) Key Takeaways: Case Summary (for those of...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

General Contractor Defeats Owner’s Notice Argument and Prevails in Seattle Condo Dispute

The Washington Court of Appeals recently affirmed a jury verdict and $30 million judgment for general contractor Skanska. The case involves the construction of the 41-story Nexus condominium tower in downtown Seattle. As is...more

Saiber LLC

The Saiber Construction Law Column: December 2024

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The legal concept of “privity of contract” is a common law principle which provides that only parties directly involved in a contract can enforce its terms or be held liable for its obligations. This means that third parties...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Court Separates Facts from Fiction – Lack of Supporting Project Documents Dooms Contractor

A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida demonstrates how facts supported by documents generated during the project can be vital to prime contractor/subcontractor disputes. In...more

Robinson+Cole Construction Law Zone

Robinson+Cole’s Amicus Brief Adopted and Cited by Massachusetts’s High Court

Earlier this year, the Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts hired Robinson+Cole attorney Joseph Barra to submit an amicus brief to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for consideration in the appeal pending before...more

Hinckley Allen

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Releases Much-Anticipated Prompt Pay Act Decision

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On June 17, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued its decision in Business Interiors Floor Covering Business Trust v. Graycor Construction Company, Inc. (“Graycor”).  The SJC’s decision addresses an...more

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Interprets Prompt Pay Act for the First Time

On June 17, 2024, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued its first decision interpreting the Massachusetts Prompt Pay Act (the “PPA”). In Business Interiors Floor Covering Business Trust v. Graycor Construction Co., Inc.,[1]...more

Stoel Rives -  Ahead of Schedule

The Role of Liquidated Damages Provisions in Construction Contracts

Considering all that can go wrong on a construction site, it can seem like a miracle that anything is ever built. Construction projects can be massive undertakings, often with millions of dollars at stake, requiring the...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Court Rejects Contractor’s Claim That COVID-19 Rendered Performance Impossible

A fundamental premise of contract law is that promises must be kept. If legally enforceable promises or “contracts” are not kept, courts may step in to enforce them by ordering performance, awarding damages, or granting some...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Liquidated Damages Disproportionate to Actual Damages Deemed Unenforceable

Construction contacts often include provisions that provide for pre-determined or “liquidated” damages in the event of a breach. Such provisions can provide certainty to the parties as to the consequences of a breach and can...more

BCLP

Can liquidated damages clauses set general cap?

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A pair of cases in the past two years have come to opposite conclusions about whether general damages can be capped by contract provisions for liquidated damages. Liquidated damages clauses are a common feature of...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Limitation of Liability in Extra Work Order Trumped by Subcontract

A federal court in Louisiana last week refused to enforce a limitation of liability provision included in an extra work order holding that it was trumped by the parties’ subcontract (see Planet Construction v. Gemini...more

Stoel Rives -  Ahead of Schedule

Efforts Expected of a Contractor When Efforts Clauses Are in Dispute

Originally published by the Daily Journal of Commerce on May 18, 2023. You will often see in construction contracts terms directing the contractor to use “best efforts” or “reasonable efforts” or “commercially reasonable...more

Stoel Rives -  Ahead of Schedule

What Parties Ought To Consider When Considering Arbitration Provisions

When reviewing a proposed design or construction contract, the responding party will often do a cursory check to see whether the contract proposes arbitration or litigation for dispute resolution. So long as the proposed...more

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

Judge Salinger Dismisses "Conclusory Assertions" Against Project Manager in Commercial Real Estate Dispute

Judge Salinger dismissed a real estate developer’s counterclaims against a project manager, ruling that the counterclaim allegations did not “plausibly suggest that [project manager] [wa]s liable for the contractor’s...more

Cranfill Sumner LLP

The Three Cases Shaking Up NC Construction Law

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Three cases have come out in the last year that will significantly impact construction law in North Carolina. - The Court in Crescent v. Trussway held that an owner of a commercial project cannot sue a subcontractor or...more

BCLP

Scottish appeal court says NEC is not a charter for contract breaking

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The September 2020 decision by the Scottish Court of Session in Van Oord UK v. Dragados UK [2020] CSOH 87, which has now been appealed. The dispute centred on the ability of Aberdeen Harbour expansion main contractor Dragados...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

North Carolina Muddies the Water on the Economic Loss Doctrine

A pair of recent rulings involving the economic loss doctrine from North Carolina serve as a timely reminder to carefully consider the extent of contractual remedies in negotiation of construction agreements – lest a later...more

Cole Schotz

Project Owners and General Contractors Take Note: Notice-to-Cure Provisions for Termination of Construction Contracts Cannot Be...

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Construction contracts generally outline various scenarios in which a party can terminate the contract. In one common scenario, a contractor is permitted to terminate its subcontractor “for cause” if the subcontractor...more

Stoel Rives -  Ahead of Schedule

Surety Bonds vs. Subcontractor Default Insurance

With construction teams navigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the world’s material supply chains, securing project performance has perhaps never been at such a premium. If a contractor cannot timely perform, or...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Sovereign Immunity Protects Public Texas University in Construction Dispute

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On December 1, 2020, the Court of Appeals of Texas (1st District) reversed a lower court decision and held that where a party fails to show that a public university defendant has expressly breached a contractual provision,...more

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