You Can Litigate a Dispute. Just Don’t LITIGATE a Dispute.
Litigation can get personal. But when you’re an attorney as well as the litigant, things can get both personal as well as nasty, and this can…
Court of Appeals Discusses the Difference Between “Claims-Made” and “Occurrence-Based” Insurance Policies
As most contractors know, scope, price and time are the “big” three in any construction contract. Nearly as important, however, are the insurance provisions. Patricularly, when…
Don’t Believe Everything You Hear: Liability of Asbestos Pipe Manufacturer Upheld Despite Exculpatory Testimony of Plaintiff
In the next case, Morgan v. J-M Manufacturing Company, Inc. 60 Cal.App.5th 1078 (2021), the 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld a $7 million personal injury…
Design Immunity Does Not Shield Public Entity From Claim That it Failed to Warn of a Dangerous Condition
Readers of this blog are familiar with the concept of the design immunity defense. Codified at Government Code section 830.6, it provides in pertinent that a…
Court Finds that Subcontractor Lacks Standing to Appeal Summary Judgment Order Simply Because Subcontractor “Might” Lose at Trial Due to Order
Cases sometimes take unanticipated twists and turns. Atlas Construction Supply, Inc. v. Swinerton Builders, Case No. D076426 (January 26,2021), involving a tragic construction accident, a motion…
Design Immunity Defense Gets Special Treatment on Summary Judgment
This may be one that is more for the lawyers than it is for the contractors or owners. If you’ve ever filed a motion for summary…
Close Enough Only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
In State Farm General Insurance Company v. Oetiker, Inc., Case No. B302348 (December 18, 2020), a manufacturer sued in subrogation action under the Right to Repair…
California Contractor Tests the Bounds of Job Order Contracting
Most contractors have heard of design-bid-build, design-build, construction manager at risk, and even public private partnerships, various project delivery methods, which, at their heart, focus on…
Owner’s Slander of Title Claim Against Contractor Recording Four Separate Mechanics Liens Fails Under the Anti-SLAPP Statute
Most mechanics lien actions follow a pretty standard process: A mechanics lien claimant, either a contractor, subcontractor, material supplier, or laborer, performs work but is not…
Roadway Contractor Owed Duty of Care to Driver Injured Outside of Construction Zone
For the roadway contractor it appeared to be an open and shut case: Plaintiff car driver was stopped at a standard one-way “reversing lane closure” traffic…
Deadlines. . . They’re Important. Project Owner Risks Losing Claim By Failing to Timely Identify “Doe” Defendant
Earlier this year I filed a complaint in a court which I won’t identify other than to say that it wasn’t the San Francisco Superior Court.…
Contractor Haunted by “Demonized” Flooring
The most un-Halloween of Halloweens has come and gone. If you ask me though, between COVID, protests, fires, hurricanes, the passing of a Supreme Court Justice,…
