Default Termination of Contractor Defective for Failure of Owner to Provide Architect’s Certificate of Good Cause for Termination

by Kent Holland | Mar 28, 2012 | Newsletter Article

Where City terminated its contractor for cause, the contractor moved for summary judgment arguing that the termination was defective for lack of an architect’s certificate of good cause for termination as required by the applicable AIA A201 contract document.  On the...

Economic Loss Doctrine Applied in Guam to Bar Design-Build Contractor’s Negligence Claim against its Design Professional Subcontractor for Purely Economic Losses

by Kent Holland | Mar 28, 2012 | Newsletter Article

Design-Build contractor (Maeda Pacific Corp) engaged a design firm to prepare a cost estimate that it used in preparing a bid to the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (“Navy”) for a water supply system at the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.  After being...

Contractor Owed Liquidated Damages Where it Failed to Timely Seek Change Order for Owner Caused Delay

by Kent Holland | Mar 28, 2012 | Newsletter Article, time limits

Where a general contractor failed to follow contract procedures to submit a time extension request, a city was entitled to collect liquidated damages from the contractor despite the fact that the city caused the delay.  Since the contractor failed to follow the...

Hirer of an Independent Contractor Implicitly Delegates Site Safety Responsibility Other than for Its Own Employees

by Kent Holland | Mar 28, 2012 | Newsletter Article

The general rule that that employees of an independent contractor that are injured in the workplace cannot sue the party that hired the contractor to do the work applies even when the party that hired the contractor failed to comply with workplace safety requirements...

The Expanding Reach of the Crawford Decision and the Impact On Construction Indemnity Agreements

by Kent Holland | Mar 28, 2012 | indemnification clause, Newsletter Article

By:  Michael D. Wilson, Jr. Gordon Rees, LLP 275 Battery Street Suite 2000 San Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 986-5900 In the period since the California Supreme Court published the seminal decision in Crawford v. Weathershield  (“Crawford”) and refused to consider or...

Framing Subcontractor Is Not Liable Under Multi-Employer Worksite Doctrine for HVAC Subcontractor Employee’s Injuries Where Contractor Caused the Condition But Did Not Control It At Time Employee Intentionally Assumed Risk by Its Actions

by Kent Holland | Mar 20, 2012 | Newsletter Article

An employee of an HVAC subcontractor, while working on a house, fell to his death from the third floor to the basement through an open stairwell.  The framing of the house had been completed three weeks earlier by the framing contractor who left an unprotected hole in...