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John Mark Goodman has been with Bradley his entire legal career as a member of Bradley’s Litigation and Construction practice groups. He has an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a law degree from Virginia. John Mark has had the privilege of representing clients throughout the U.S. and abroad in a wide variety of litigation and arbitration matters, including construction disputes, products liability claims, tax appeals, breach of contract/warranty, patent disputes, trade secret theft, and general commercial litigation.

The words breach and default are often used interchangeably to indicate that somebody hasn’t done what they were legally required to do.  According to Black’s Law Dictionary, the words do appear somewhat interchangeable.  Black’s defines breach as “a violation or infraction of a law, obligation, or agreement, especially of an official duty or a legal

Construction contracts often include clauses that purport to limit the liability of one or both parties. This includes clauses that completely prohibit any claims for certain types of damages such as lost profits and other consequential damages, extended overhead or other “delay” damages, and exemplary/punitive damages. Contracting parties may also include clauses that purport to cap liability

The court in AECOM v. Flatiron is back at it issuing additional evidentiary rulings as the parties head to trial later this month. These latest rulings highlight the risk of seeking the same damages from multiple parties, sometimes referred to as “fighting on two fronts.” As you may recall, AECOM v. Flatiron involves claims by

A Utah federal court recently held that when negotiating a pass-through settlement agreement, a contractor has a duty to disclose information to its subcontractor regarding the viability of the claims to be passed through. See Ludvik v. Vanderlande, 2023 WL 8789379 (D. Utah, Dec. 19, 2023). If it breaches that duty, the contractor may

Recently, the Oregon Court of Appeals reinstated a contractor’s mechanics lien claim notwithstanding the owner’s offer of payment because the offer was conditioned on the contractor signing a broad lien waiver that would have released other claims.  See, Development Northwest, Inc. v. Zhiryada, 329 Or. App. 427 (December 6, 2023).   

After completing its work, the

Back in April we examined the court’s decision in Boldt v. Black & Veatch, which dismissed a subcontractor’s counterclaim for wrongful termination on a 60-turbine wind farm project. As you may recall, the subcontractor hired to erect the turbines alleged that it was wrongfully terminated for delays that were not its fault but were

A Minnesota federal court dismissed a tunnelling contractor’s differing site condition claim because notice of the condition was given eight days after the conditions were first observed whereas the contract required notice within three days  (see Engineering & Construction Innovations, Inc. v. Bradshaw Construction Corp.). The project at issue involves installation of a

A fundamental premise of contract law is that promises must be kept. If legally enforceable promises or “contracts” are not kept, courts may step in to enforce them by ordering performance, awarding damages, or granting some other form of relief. Over time, courts have developed exceptions to the general rule that promises must be kept.