Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Penalties against Project Owner can be Recovered from Engineer and Contractor through Indemnification and Contribution Claims

by Kent Holland | Dec 13, 2017 | Newsletter Article

Where disabled individuals sued the City of Los Angeles for alleged failure of the city’s bus facility to meet the accessibility standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and of the Rehabilitation Act, the city filed a third party complaint against AECOM...

Implied Warranty of Habitability does not Apply to Design Professionals and Material Suppliers who did not Perform Construction Work on Condominium

by Kent Holland | Dec 13, 2017 | Newsletter Article

A condominium association filed an implied warranty of habitability complaint against architects, engineers and material suppliers – asserting that they were responsible for certain defects in construction that rendered the condominium units uninhabitable. An Illinois...

Economic Loss Doctrine did not bar a Contractor’s Negligent Misrepresentation Claim against Architect Seeking Indemnity against Subcontractor Delay Claim

by Kent Holland | Dec 13, 2017 | economic loss doctrine, Newsletter Article

Where a subcontractor sued the prime contractor based in part on delay claims, the prime filed a third-party complaint against the project owner and the architect seeking indemnity. The court held that the architect owed the contractor a duty of care and that the...

Architect Cannot Enforce Mechanic’s Lien for Design Services Performed Offsite Where it Failed to Provide Actual Notice to Landowner that it was Performing Services

by Kent Holland | Nov 15, 2017 | Newsletter Article

An Architect provided millions of dollars worth of design services for condominium project and was not paid by the developer with whom it was under contract. The developer didn’t own the property, but it had a contract to purchase it from the owner. Financing for the...

Indemnity Obligation Includes First Party Attorneys Fees Based on Language of the Clause

by Kent Holland | Nov 15, 2017 | indemnification clause, Newsletter Article

An indemnity clause in an easement agreement required the indemnitor (contractor) to pay the Indemnitees (adjoining property owner) first party attorneys fees that were incurred in suing the contractor for property damages. This was a “Crane Swing, Tie Back and Swing...

Common-Enterprise Defense Prevents Employee that Recovered Workers Compensation from also Recovering from Other Contractor

by Kent Holland | Nov 15, 2017 | Newsletter Article

An employee of a general contractor was electrocuted while working alongside employees of a subcontractor to move sections of pipe culvert in a streambed. This apparently occurred because a crane being operated by the subcontractor contacted an electrical wire. His...