A Texas court has rejected a pipeline contractor’s $25 million claim for additional costs based on broad release language include in an executed change order (see Wood Group, USA v. Targa NGL Pipeline Company, LLC, No. 01-21-00542, 2023 WL 5280249 (Tex. Ct. App. Aug. 17, 2023)). The change order at issue increased the contract
You’re in the middle of a job and the party with whom you have a contract breaks a material term of the agreement. What does the law allow you to recover? The answer is found in the law of damages. While the law of damages can vary, some general principles typically apply in most jurisdictions in the
Construction contacts often include provisions that provide for pre-determined or “liquidated” damages in the event of a breach. Such provisions can provide certainty to the parties as to the consequences of a breach and can simplify the task of proving up damages at trial. However, as one contractor found out recently, courts may refuse to
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision last week upholding an arbitral award, despite the failure of the arbitrators to make certain pertinent disclosures. The case involves an international arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) stemming from the design and construction of the Panama Canal expansion, which was “severely delayed and
Earlier this month, the State of Washington Court of Appeals affirmed a $150 million jury verdict against subcontractors involved in the disassembly of a tower crane that collapsed in 2019. The collapse, which was caught on video, killed four people and injured five. The Washington court’s recent opinion is notable for its detailed explanation of what
Who said legal opinions have to be boring? Not Judge Terrence L. Michael of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, who last week issued a colorful opinion rejecting a home builder’s creative claim for breach of contract damages. Here’s what happened:
The builder, Executive Homes, and the buyers, David and Gloria Potts
Every first year law student in the U.S. takes a course on the Law of Contracts. It’s a rite of passage where lawyers-to-be learn all about things like consideration and legally-enforceable promises. And as lawyers, we also learn that there are generally-accepted rules on how to interpret contracts. Some of those rules even have fancy Latin
A federal court in Louisiana last week refused to enforce a limitation of liability provision included in an extra work order holding that it was trumped by the parties’ subcontract (see Planet Construction v. Gemini Insurance, 2023 WL 4675387 (W.D. La. July 20, 2023)). Planet Construction was the general contractor hired to construct the
Loss of productivity damages are commonly estimated using a “measured mile” analysis, which compares unimpacted construction work to work which has been disrupted to determine the cost impact of the disruption. Such analyses often require expert testimony that must satisfy the reliability requirements of Rule 702 and Daubert. Generally speaking, to be reliable the analysis must
Many subcontracts contain a catch-all provision requiring the subcontractor to do everything the prime contractor is obligated to do under the prime contract. This is known as an “incorporation” clause because it adopts or incorporates legal rights and duties spelled out elsewhere. Here is an example of an incorporation clause: “The Subcontractor shall be