We recently blogged in this space about a pair of Federal Claims decisions that sided with an owner and denied a design/build contractor’s (Metcalf Construction Company) $27,000,000 claim for increased construction costs. The main focus of these cases involved the duty of a design/build contractor to independently investigate soil conditions on a project. The trial...Read More

When parties to a construction project find themselves in a disagreement, there are several options to resolve the dispute. These include: (1) informal settlement discussions (often with “high level” executives); (2) turning the dispute over to an “initial decision maker” (often identified in the contract as the architect, project engineer or construction manager); or (3)...Read More

While typically an owner impliedly warrants the information, plans and specifications it provides to a contractor†, the decisions in two recent United States Court of Federal Claims cases (see Metcalf Constr. Co. v. United States, 102 Fed. Cl. 334 (2011) (Metcalf I), and Metcalf Constr. Co. v. United States, 107 Fed. Cl. 786 (2012) (Metcalf...Read More

Liability insurance coverage for certain construction defects changed with the 2010 Indiana Supreme Court decision, Sheehan Construction Company, Inc., et al. v. Continental Casualty Company. In the Sheehan case, the Court reinterpreted an insurance company’s obligation to its builder-insureds under the builder’s commercial general liability policy with regard to work performed by subcontractors. Prior to this...Read More