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Construction Law

Construction Law Blog

Coverage of construction litigation and legislation, particularly in Washington state.
By Brett Hill, Ryan Sternoff and John Ahlers

Post Frequency: 10/day

Last Entry: March 30, 2011 at 21:00:00

A Washington state company seeks approval to study ocean waves potential to produce electricity

Posted on January 11, 2009
A Washington state company, Grays Harbor Ocean Energy, applied for permits to study the potential in producing electricity from ocean waves in south California, Hawaii and the Atlantic coast. The company is asking for permits in seven locations on the Pacific and Atlantic coast...

Oregon Court binds Stucco manufacturer to warranty representations of its agent

Posted on January 05, 2009
Oregon Supreme Court held that evidence was sufficient to support jury finding that territory manager, as agent, had apparent authority to provide a warranty on manufacturers behalf.

Washington State Legislature Pushes Transportation Projects

Posted on December 08, 2008
Infrastructure projects are popular with Governor Gregoire. The State Legislature is considering two large transportation projects as part of the plan to create more Washington jobs. The two proposals being considered are the Alaska Way Viaduct and the Highway 520 Bridge Project both of which are not effected by shortfall in the state's operating budget because both projects are funded by gasoline tax and are not dependent upon the state budget (presently in the red)...

Alaska’s Thirty Billion Dollar Natural Gas Pipeline ("Palin’s Pipeline") May be Delayed

Posted on November 26, 2008
After Governor Sarah Palin returned home from the campaign trail, the thirty billion dollar pipeline she has been touting may well be in jeopardy. The economy downturn has lowered the demand for natural gas and has caused a decrease in the price of gas...

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Second purchasers of new homes held to have limited rights against original developer

Posted on November 24, 2008
In this case, decided last month, the Court of Appeals held that second purchasers of new homes have few rights against the original developer who built the homes.

Specificity is required in arbitration demands

Posted on October 16, 2008
In Westcott Homes, LLC v. Chamness, __ Wn. App.__, 192 P.3d. 394 (September 15, 2008), the Court of Appeals addressed the issue of whether a series of emails satisfied the statutory requirements for initiating an arbitration. The Court of Appeals held that they did not...

Court of Appeals extends potential liability for residential developers

Posted on October 14, 2008
The Washington Court of Appeals recently extended the potential liability that residential developers face for construction defects. The case, Westlake View Condominium Assoc. v. Sixth Avenue View Partners, LLC, involved the construction of a condiminium located in Seattle.

Road Through Wildlife Refuge Divides Alaskans

Posted on September 30, 2008
Before it recesses for November elections, Congress is considering swapping land between the State of Alaska and Federal Government that would allow a road to be built through a national wildlife refuge on the Alaska peninsula. The issue before congress is whether Alaska will be allowed to swap 43,000 acres of state land for 200+ acres of the Izembek refuge needed for the road (a single lane gravel road, 17 miles estimated at $1 - $2 million per mile)...

Contractors Beware: Know the Terms of Your Payment Bond

Posted on September 22, 2008
Two recent court decisions strictly interpreting language contained in the AIA A312 Payment Bond form ("the Bond") have had a significant impact on general contractors and sureties. The courts in National Union v. Bramble (FL) and J.C. Gibson v. XL Specialty (MD), strictly interpreted the requirements contained in Paragraph 6 of the Bond...

State Dam's At Issue In Political Race

Posted on September 04, 2008
Hydroelectric power provides about 2/3's of Washington's electricity, a major reason the State's carbon footprint is much lower than places where coal or other fossil fuels are used to make power. Four dams along the Snake River, Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams were build in the 1950s and 60s to open up the lower Snake River to navigation and to make electricity...

Court of Appeals rules that employee trust funds cannot recover against payment bond and retainage

Posted on July 29, 2008
In an unpublished opinion, the Division II Court of Appeals ruled this month that union managed employee benefit trust funds could not recover against a general contractor's payment bond and against an owner's retained percentage for unpaid trust fund contributions...

Alaska House of Representatives moves the TransCanada Pipeline One Step Closer to Reality

Posted on July 28, 2008
On Tuesday, July 22, 2008, the Alaska House of Representatives approved TransCanada's plans to build a $26 billion, 1,700 mile pipeline to transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the US market. An Alaskan State license means streamlined permitting and the state of Alaska will match up to $500 million for funds TransCanada spends on preconstruction costs...

Boston’s Big Dig Plunged the State of Massachusetts into a Sea of Red Ink

Posted on July 24, 2008
The big dig project in Boston, Massachusetts has caused the state of Massachusetts to struggle under a massive debt burden. The project escalated to $22 billion. The state government now faced with an annual expense of $600 million over several years to pay off has sidelined road maintenance and other construction projects and is borrowing heavily to pay its highway workers...

Alaska House of Representatives moves the TransCanada Pipeline One Step Closer to Reality

Posted on July 23, 2008
On Tuesday, July 22, 2008, the Alaska House of Representatives approved TransCanada's plans to build a $26 billion, 1,700 mile pipeline to transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the US market. An Alaskan State license means streamlined permitting and the state of Alaska will match up to $500 million for funds TransCanada spends on preconstruction costs...

Sound Transit May Add Further Contingency Funds

Posted on July 21, 2008
Federal officials have asked Seattle Sound Transit to add another $150 million in contingency funds to the budget for the 3.15 mile light rail link to the University of Washington. The additional were sought for overruns in the high-risk tunnel construction...

After Twenty Years, Portland’s Light Rail is Still a National Model

Posted on July 21, 2008
Portland, Oregon's light rail system, was built 20 years ago and it continues to expand with 50% more track expected in the next 18 months. Ridership numbers are increasing. City government is adding street cars and commuter rails to the public transportation mix...

Crane subcontractor not required to give pre-lien notice on public project

Posted on July 07, 2008
The Division II Court of Appeals ruled today that a second tier subcontractor that supplied and operated cranes was not required to give a pre-lien notice for its claim against the bond and retainage on a public project.

Redacted GAO Decision on Boeing Protest

Posted on June 25, 2008
Further to the June 18, 2008 post, GAO Sustains Boeing Bid Protest of Massive Air Force Contract, the United States Government Accountability Office has released the full, redacted, decision on the Boeing protest, which can be found here. While this was certainly the World Series of bid protests, as noted in the previous posting, the process undertaken by Boeing and its team of attorneys is the same required by construction contractors in their protests of most federal procurements...

Tale of two construction sectors?

Posted on June 24, 2008
The Seattle Times reports the Washington State nonresidential construction industry is more than pulling its weight to pick up the slack caused by the downturn in residential construction. The article notes that the glut of nonresidential building around the state has helped cushion the state's construction sector from the impact of the housing slump...

GAO Sustains Boeing Bid Protest of Massive Air Force Contract

Posted on June 17, 2008
Today, the United States Government Accountability Office ("GAO") upheld the bid protest of The Boeing Company ("Boeing") of the award of a $35 billion tanker contract to Northrop Grumman Corp. and European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co ("EADS"). The award of the massive government contract to the group which includes European based EADS had been widely criticized by lawmakers and patriots alike...

Two important new rules governing contractors’ business ethics and conduct

Posted on May 19, 2008
As previously advised on April 2, 2008, the ethics of companies doing business with the government and their compliance with standard government contracting requirements has been daily fair in the media. Two new and related federal acquisition regulation rules, one final and one proposed, are the most recent manifestations of this new focus on contractor ethics...

Department of Labor & Industries Decides Sound Transit Concrete Bridge Segments Cast In a Pre-Cast Yard are Subject to Prevailing Wages

Posted on May 12, 2008
Not unexpectedly, the Department of Labor & Industries ("DLI") prodded and cajoled by labor interests has determined that pre‑cast bridge segments, cast in a pre‑cast yard, are subject to prevailing wages. DLI relied upon three factors in arriving at this conclusion: (1) the bridge segments are "sophisticatedly" engineered and ultimately their use is "complex", (2) the installation task of tying the rebar required "sophisticated skill", and (3) that the tasks required to build the segments was "beyond a simple repetitive work"...

Design Contract’s Enforceability of Limitation of Liability Provisions

Posted on May 11, 2008
Designers often seek to minimize their legal liability on a project by negotiating limitation of liability (LOL) clauses in their professional contracts. An LOL clause in a design contract seeks to cap a design professional's liability for professional negligence at some specified dollar amount, often the amount of the designer's fee...

Contractor Prevails on Differing Site Condition and Notice Issue in Colorado

Posted on May 08, 2008
Recently, the Court of Appeals upheld a differing site conditions clause, reversing a trial court that had concluded that the contractor was not entitled to recover for additional costs incurred due to an unforeseen subsurface conditions. The trial court had ruled that the contractor had assumed the risk of the subsurface conditions by entering into a fixed price contract.

City's Pre-Suit Claim Filing Ordinance Not Applicable to GC's Contract Claim

Posted on May 06, 2008
This case (Matia Contractors, Inc. v. City of Bellingham, Court of Appeals, Div I) addressed the question of whether a general contractor who is filing a lawsuit against a public entity for breach of contract is required to give notice to the public entity prior to filing its lawsuit...

Idaho Court denies GC's claim against project engineer

Posted on May 06, 2008
In Beco Constr. v. J-U-B Engineers, Inc., the Idaho Supreme Court denied a general contractor's claim against the project engineer on a public project located in Pocatello. The general had alleged that the engineer's improper conduct and delays resulted in delays to the general's work on the project and liquidated damages assessed against the general contractor...

Conversions to Washington's Condominium Conversion Law

Posted on April 27, 2008
On August 1, 2008, new law concerning condominium conversions will take effect. SHB 2014 increases the notice requirements for conversions from 90 days to 120 days. Under the existing law, a condominium declarant must give apartment tenants 90 days notice of the conversion before tenants can be required to vacate...

ALASKA PUBLIC AGENCY ACTED WITHIN ITS AUTHORITY IN SPECIFYING EQUIPMENT WHICH EXCLUDED THE CONTRACTOR FROM THE BIDDING PROCESS

Posted on April 24, 2008
The Alaska Energy Authority ("AEA") is a public state agency which provides technical support to hundreds of Alaskan villages located off the electrical grid that produce and distribute their own energy needs. The AEA sought to upgrade the utilities in the native villages by installing new switch gear...

MAYOR OF SEATTLE PROPOSES EASY ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS FOR DEVELOPERS

Posted on April 23, 2008
Fewer Seattle construction projects will face environmental reviews, if the City Counsel agrees with the Mayor's proposal to exempt urban centers from State environmental policy guidelines. The change would limit reviews to larger residential, commercial and high-rise projects...

Donald Trump Tells His Lawyers, “You're Fired!” After Claiming They Treated Him Like a “Cash Cow.”

Posted on April 13, 2008
Real estate developer, Donald Trump, in a legal malpractice case, claims that his Manhattan law firm overcharged him and treated him like a "cash cow" after the lawyers won a construction case on the developer's behalf. Trump has filed suit against the New York firm of Morrison Cohen, asserting that the firm did unnecessary work to generate higher bills...

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