In today’s market, contractors often find themselves playing The Price is Right when bidding material costs — trying to hit the number just right without going over. But with new (and changing) tariffs targeting steel, aluminum, and other goods in 2025, that guessing game just became even riskier.
Should contractors base bids on current prices
In Tri-State Insur. Co. of Minn. a/s/o Campus Chalet, Inc. v. East Tennessee Sprinkler Company, Inc., the Court of Appeals of Tennessee recently addressed whether the state’s four-year statute of repose could shield a contractor from liability in 2020 where the initial construction project was completed in 1992. The court found that the trial
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently issued a significant opinion in Gemini Tech Servs., LLC v. United States, holding that the Army’s failure to follow required procedures under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in establishing a competitive range for a logistics support procurement at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, prejudiced the protestor and warranted injunctive
“Manifest disregard of the law” is no longer a valid basis to challenge arbitration awards, at least not in the federal courts of Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Rather, according to the Fifth Circuit’s decision in U.S. Trinity Energy Services v. Southwest Directional Drilling, 2025 WL 1218096 (Apr. 28, 2025, No. 24-10833), the grounds for
The Alabama Supreme Court found that an indemnification provision was enforceable that required a subcontractor to indemnify a general contractor on a proportional-fault basis against liability for death or personal injury.
JohnsonKreis Construction Company, Inc. subcontracted with Howard Painting, Inc. to perform work on a hotel project in Birmingham, Alabama. The subcontract included an indemnification
A California appeals court has upheld a $5 million award in favor of Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and against the owner of a 12-story, Virgin-brand hotel in San Francisco. Whiting-Turner agreed to construct the hotel for a guaranteed maximum price of $36 million pursuant to a modified AIA standard form agreement and general conditions. The contract called
Even though construction cases often involve colorful facts, legal opinions are often quite boring. When a judge writes a colorful opinion about an otherwise boring case, we tip our hat. This week we tip our hat to Judge Brandon Harrison and colleagues on the Arkansas Court of Appeals for their opinion in Thompson Thrift Construction
A federal court in upstate New York is permitting a subcontractor’s delay claim to proceed notwithstanding a “no damages for delay” provision in the subcontract. The case, The Pike Company, Inc. v. Tri-Krete, Ltd., involves delay claims asserted by a subcontractor hired to install pre-cast concrete walls on a college dormitory project. The subcontractor alleges that
The corporate veil is a fundamental concept of American jurisprudence that generally shields owners and officers from the lability of the corporation. Unless the corporate veil is pierced or otherwise avoided, owners and officers are not individually liable for the debts of the corporation. Since this legal barrier was first invented, lawyers have been coming
A federal judge in Louisiana has dished out some harsh criticism of contractors who don’t reduce their contracts to writing. The case involves the decommissioning of 26 orphaned oil and gas wells near Baton Rouge. The defendant orally hired the plaintiff in 2013 to perform a portion of the cleanup and remediation work after deciding the plaintiff