News & Analysis as of

Construction Industry Contract Interpretation

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP

Consequential Damages: Contract Language Is Key

Judge Andrea Masley of the Supreme Court of New York County rendered a decision in Bldg 44 Developers LLC. v. The Pace Companies of New York LLC, which is highly significant in the area of construction law for two reasons:...more

Cozen O'Connor

Court Interprets “Completion” of a Project Under Builder’s Risk Insurance

Cozen O'Connor on

In Luke, Inc. v. Berkley National Insurance Company, 2025 WL 2210783 (W.D. Tenn. 2025), the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee determined that the “completion” of a construction project for...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

Time’s Up: NSW Court of Appeal Reminder About the Importance of Understanding and Hitting Security of Payment Deadlines

The NSW Court of Appeal in Roberts Co (NSW) Pty Ltd v Sharvain Facades Pty Ltd (Administrators Appointed) [2025] NSWCA 161 has confirmed that, under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW)...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Consequential vs. Direct Damages

Many construction contracts include a provision that prohibits the parties from recovering “consequential” damages in the event of a breach. Sometimes parties will negotiate and agree to a waiver of consequential damages that...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Whose Terms Govern? An Introduction to the Battle of the Forms

For construction lawyers, the Battle of the Forms presents a familiar fact pattern. A material supplier/seller provides a potential buyer with a price quote along with its standard terms. The buyer, usually a contractor or...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Does “Indemnify” = “Hold Harmless”?

Does this sound familiar? Nearly every construction contract contains an indemnification provision with some variation of these terms. And if you have ever negotiated a construction contract, you know that indemnification...more

Conn Kavanaugh

Update Your Construction Contract! Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Holds that Breach of Contractual Indemnity Provision is...

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Under the Massachusetts statute of repose, tort claims involving improvements to real estate generally must be initiated within six years of the improvement’s opening to use. So, for example, if a worker suffers a jobsite...more

BCLP

Shifting Contractual Risks and Managing Electronic Contracts

BCLP on

In this Insight, Shy Jackson takes a look at the decision of John Sisk and Son Limited v Capital & Centric (Rose) Limited [2025] EWHC 594 (TCC) where the court had to grapple with interpreting a contract which was kept on a...more

JAMS

The Complexities of Construction Dispute Resolution, Part I: Statutory Adjudication

JAMS on

While disputes can occur in any type of commercial transaction, construction contains a unique mix of “ingredients” that increase the likelihood that disputes will arise. Whereas most commercial transactions involve only a...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Signature Lines Matter: When a Contract Amendment Is Not Really an Amendment

Construction law is largely a matter of contract law. Yes, there are federal and state statutes that deal with construction issues and, yes, construction cases sometimes involve tort claims, but more often than not,...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Mississippi Passes New Retainage Law Governing Private Construction Jobs

Construction contracts for private projects will soon be subject to a new retainage law in Mississippi. On April 19, 2024, Gov. Tate Reeves approved SB 2762 into law, and after July 1, 2024, most construction contracts on...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Transferring Project Design Risk

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Some construction industry commentators have urged a more integrated approach to design and construction, with equitable risk sharing and an effort to ensure that project design will benefit from the experience of companies...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

How to Deal with Retainage on Alabama Public Projects

Retainage can be tricky in Alabama, particularly on public projects. In this post, we address retainage on public projects for public owners in the state (e.g., a governmental board, commission, agency, body, authority,...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

The Basics of Contract Interpretation: A Primer for Non-Lawyers in the Construction Industry

Every first year law student in the U.S. takes a course on the Law of Contracts. It’s a rite of passage where lawyers-to-be learn all about things like consideration and legally-enforceable promises. And as lawyers, we also...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Contextual “Construction” of Force Majeure Clauses

The Texas Supreme Court recently provided new guidance in interpreting force majeure language in an oil and gas drilling dispute. In Point Energy Partners Permian, LLC v. MRC Permian Company, the court held that the oil and...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

No Written Change Order? No Problem! Court Sides with Subcontractor in Payment Dispute

Many contracts contain provisions requiring that changes to a contract be in writing and signed by a particular authorized person. Under such provisions, work done without proper written authorization will not be...more

BCLP

Triple Point v PTT: UK Supreme Court also interprets a contractual cap on liability

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The UK Supreme Court recently handed down a highly anticipated judgment on the interpretation of clauses which pertain to liquidated damages and limitations on a contractor’s liability for damages. Most notably, the Supreme...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

You’ve Gotta Fight For Your Right To Get Paid: The Right To Stop Work

A contractor is halfway through the (timely) completion of a project and the owner’s payment is late. Days, weeks go by, and now the contractor is incurring all the costs of the work without any compensation. It might be...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Quick Thoughts for Construction Contracting: Don’t Overlook the Entities – Part 1

Sometimes the best advice is the advice we already know, but a timely reminder makes all the difference. In this first blog post of the series, the advice is exactly that. Get the right entities on the dotted lines. ...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right: Unlicensed Contractors Can Pursue Designers for Negligence

The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently determined that a builder who fails to comply with state licensing requirements may still pursue a negligence claim against design professionals. In Wright Construction Services,...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Extra Work Claim Waived for Not Following Change Request Procedures

On May 29, 2020, in Constr. Drilling, Inc. v. Engineers Constr., Inc., the Vermont Supreme Court upheld a trial court’s judgment in favor of general contractor on an extra work payment dispute. The Supreme Court agreed with...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Promises to Pay Sub-subcontractor may Expose General Contractor to Liability for Unjust Enrichment

On May 14, 2020, in James G. Davis Constr. Corp. v. FTJ, Inc., the Virginia Supreme Court upheld a judgment on an unjust enrichment claim in favor of FTJ, a drywall supplier on a condominium project, against Davis, the...more

Allen Matkins

In This Case, The "Crux Of The Biscuit" Was The Missing Apostrophe

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Consider the following provision of in a contract between a general contractor and a subcontractor...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

“That Particular Part” – Yet More

Massachusetts Appeals Court Gets It Right – Mostly - Hot on the heels of the Federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in MTI, Inc. v. Employers Insurance Company of Wausau, __ F.3d __, 2019 WL 321423 (10th Cir....more

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