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David Pugh represents owners, general contractors, subcontractors, engineers, architects, insurance companies and sureties throughout the United States. He advises clients at every stage of a construction project: conception, planning, performance and closeout. David drafts and negotiates contracts for several large scale projects, and he participates in trials, hearings, appellate arguments, mediations and arbitrations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Mexico, among others. View articles by David.

Contract, Project, and Arbitration in Florida? State Has Personal Jurisdiction Over Action to Enforce Arbitration AwardOn June 24, 2020, in Sayers Constr., LLC v. Timberline Constr., Inc., et al., a Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court’s denial of a contractor’s motion to dismiss. The contractor moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in a dispute with a subcontractor over confirmation of an arbitration award. The

Fraudulently Filing Lien Backfires on ContractorLiens represent one of the primary mechanisms by which contractors, subcontractors, and other downstream parties secure payment rights under a construction contract. When utilized properly, filing a lien may induce an owner to release funds that are undisputedly owed to the lienor. However, when a party’s lien filing is delinquent or defective, and the party

Cybersecurity Health & Compliance: Best Practices in Commercial Business & Government ContractingLearn how to protect critical data assets through basic cybersecurity hygiene, including email and password security and social media best practices. Other topics to be addressed include insider thread preparedness, cybersecurity and privacy issues in the remote work environment. In addition, government regulations and compliance topics, such as the coming Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification and

Prior Material Breach May Excuse Performance, but the Factfinder Must Agree It Was a Material BreachIn most jurisdictions, a party may be excused from any future performance under a contract by the prior material breach of the other party. A “prior material breach” is typically defined as conduct that deprives the injured party of the benefit that it reasonably could have anticipated from the breaching party’s full performance. This excuse

Notice Your Lien or Kiss it GoodbyeLike many states, Minnesota requires subcontractors and suppliers to send pre-lien notices to owners to perfect mechanic’s lien rights. Failure to comply with the pre-lien notice statute can prove fatal to a lien enforcement action as one masonry supplier recently learned. In Timberwall Land & Masonry Products, Inc., the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed