Construction Law and Risk Management Resource Center
This website by J. Kent Holland, principal of ConstructionRisk, LLC, is published as a free construction risk management resource. The top menu bar includes drop down menus with numerous articles, papers, and continuing education materials. The sidebar provides a Search box to research legal and risk management topics that have been discussed in our ConstructionRisk.com Report since 1999. The Topics covered include professional liability, indemnification clauses, duty to defend, standard of care, warranties, construction defects, site safety, payment provisions, design-build, construction management (CM) contracts, litigation lessons learned, and much more.
View the Webinar on ‘Design Professional’s Design Duty to Mitigate against Extreme Weather Events’
Webinar recording password: HhP8c36w
In this webinar, we discuss how climate change may be changing design professional risks and liability. The following learning objectives are addressed:
- Become familiar with professional responsibility for designing to mitigate against damage from foreseeable flooding.
- Learn from case law examples how design firms have been found liable even if codes are met.
- Understand the potential enhanced Standard of Care for addressing damages from floods and sea-level rise.
- Learn about American Society of Civil Engineers-24 (ASCE), flood-resistant design and construction, and how it applies to design for flood mitigation.
Design Professional Contracts: 1 Minute Construction Risk Management Video Series
Kent Holland created this series of short videos to provide risk management and contract drafting tips for design professional contracts. Each video is one to two minutes in length. At the conclusion of each video, the next one will start automatically. Or you can jump to a different clause of your choice.
Subcontractor Breached Contract by Refusing to Perform Extra Work as Directed by Contractor unless it First Received Change Order
A concrete sub-subcontractor breached its contract by refusing for perform extra work as directed by its contractor unless the contractor agreed upon the compensation amount to be paid and executed a change order. The court held that the language of the subcontract required the subcontractor to perform when directed by the contractor even if the amount to be paid might be disputed, and that the...
Failure to file Certificate of Merit Requires Case to be Dismissed with Prejudice
Where a contractor’s laborer died from poisonous gas exposure when he went into a manhole, his family filed suit against an Engineering firm alleging that the firm was negligent is causing the individuals death. They failed to include a certificate of merit with their complaint as required by Texas law. A trial court denied the engineer’s motion to dismiss, and this was reversed on appeal,...
Good Faith and Fair Dealing Duty was Violated by Prime Contractor who Settled Claim with its Client without Including Subcontractor Claim
The covenant of good faith and fair dealing “prohibits arbitrary or unfair acts by one party that work to the disadvantage of the other". In this appeal, the court held that the district court properly applied the covenant of good faith and fair dealing when it awarded delay damages to a subcontractor against the prime contractor who settled a claim with the project owner but failed to include...
Register for the Upcoming Webinar on Ethical Challenges for Engineers
In this webinar, we will discuss ethical challenges for engineers. We will present several recent Board of Ethical Review decisions issued by the National Society of Professional Engineers. Learning Objectives Become more familiar with the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics for Engineers; Learn lessons from review of recent BER ethics decisions; Learn to recognize...
Economic Loss Doctrine Applied in Utah to Bar Tort Claim against Real Estate Seller. And Prevailing Party Attorneys Fees Awarded
An individual, Mr. Charlwood, purchased a house, remodeled it, and then sold it to Mr. Thorp, the Purchaser. Ten years later The Purchaser noticed issues with the property, including a deck that was apparently structurally failing. Purchaser sued Seller for defective construction, negligent misrepresentation, and fraudulent misrepresentation. Trial court dismissed the suit based on the...
Archived Construction Risk Reports
Continuing Education Video Courses
ConstructionRisk.com’s educational video courses include:
- Jobsite Safety Responsibility and Liability
- Contracts for Design Professionals
- Design-Build Lessons Learned
- Working on Purpose – Finding Purpose, Setting Goals, and Managing Time
You may also view the course videos on our Construction Risk Management YouTube video channel.
Connect