A Texas appellate court recently applied the economic loss doctrine to reverse a nearly $10 million jury verdict in favor of a pipeline contractor.
The dispute arose from the construction of a 32-mile natural gas pipeline in West Texas. After disagreements developed during the project, the contractor sued the project owner for breach of
The usual measure of damages for breach of a construction contract is the cost to repair the defects or finish the incomplete work. But what if the cost to repair or compete is grossly disproportionate to the value that the additional work would create? In that case, some courts will instead measure damages based on diminution
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed an $80 million ruling in favor of Skanska USA and Granite Construction against their joint-venture partner Lane Construction. The case involves a $2.3 billion highway improvement project in Florida known as the “I-4 Ultimate Project,” a public-private partnership (or “P3”) project for the Florida Department of Transportation. The court
We previously reported on the dispute between AECOM and Exxon over work performed at Exxon’s refinery in Montana. AECOM claimed it was owed roughly $100 million for extra work performed during a plant turnaround in 2019 that lasted 17 weeks instead of seven weeks as planned. Exxon disputed that it owed additional money and counterclaimed
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a jury verdict finding that a developer and its founder defrauded a contractor by misrepresenting the availability of construction funding. See Selective Ins. Co. of Am. v. Heritage Const. Cos. et al, Case No. 24-2333, 2026 WL 263591 (D. Minn. Feb. 2, 2026). The case involves construction of a
A contract is an exchange of promises that the law will enforce. Contract law provides that promises are enforceable, under what circumstances, and the available remedies. Although application may vary by jurisdiction, there are some principles of contract law that have been widely adopted. One of those is the principle of “first material breach.” Generally, under this principle
Recent reports and contractor experiences suggest that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has, in some instances, failed to timely pay contractors for work that has already been performed and accepted. While payment delays are not unprecedented in federal contracting, prolonged or systemic nonpayment raises serious legal and practical concerns — particularly for contractors
A federal judge in Michigan last week rejected a contractor’s efforts to avoid a jury trial this fall in its dispute with the owner of the Ludington Pumped Storage Hydro plant. The case involves a project to overhaul the 50-year-old plant, which uses electricity during periods of low demand (i.e. at night) to pump
Many construction contracts include a provision that prohibits the parties from recovering “consequential” damages in the event of a breach. Sometimes parties will negotiate and agree to a waiver of consequential damages that identifies and describes what damages are considered consequential damages. For example, the parties may agree that prohibited consequential damages include such damages as
A federal judge in Oklahoma last week ruled against an electrical subcontractor who quit work before finishing because it was allegedly unsafe to continue. The court found that the subcontractor was simply losing money, and that the safety excuse was a “post-hoc fabrication” to justify “jumping ship.”
The case involves construction of a renewable natural gas