ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (9/4/24) – DOJ Sues RealPage, Housing Sales Increase and U.S. Can’t Build Homes Fast Enough

October 07, 2024 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, environmental regulations tighten for commercial properties, Wells Fargo sells most of its commercial mortgage services business, first-time home buyers struggle with housing affordability, and more!

• The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it is suing the real estate company RealPage, saying it engaged in a price-fixing scheme to drive up rents. (Jennifer Ludden, NPR)
• As environmental regulations for commercial buildings and properties tighten across the U.S., green leases and technologies offer owners and operators opportunities to reduce their portfolios’ carbon footprints, generate cost savings and further align with ESG goals. (Nish Amarnath, Construction Dive)
• Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to sell most of its commercial mortgage servicing business to Trimont LLC, ceding the title of biggest US commercial and multifamily mortgage servicer to the Atlanta-based firm. (Hannah Levitt and Scott Carpenter, Yahoo)

Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

---

Rhode Island Sues 13 Industry Firms Over Flawed Interstate Bridge

September 23, 2024 — Richard Korman - Engineering News-Record
In an attempt to recoup any money Rhode Island will owe to others for rerouting traffic on half of a high-volume interstate bridge in Providence after structural flaws had been detected, the state Dept. of Transportation filed a lawsuit Aug. 16 against 13 engineers and contractors that had inspected or performed work on the Washington Bridge in the last decade. Reprinted courtesy of Richard Korman, Engineering News-Record Mr. Korman may be contacted at kormanr@enr.com Read the full story...

---

BWB&O ranks as a 2025 Best Law Firm by Best Lawyers®

December 10, 2024 — Dolores Montoya - Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara LLP
Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara, LLP is honored to announce the firm has been recognized for its fifth consecutive year in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms® and is ranked by Best Lawyers® regionally in three practice areas. To read the publication, please click here. Metropolitan Tier 1 Las Vegas: Litigation – Construction Orange County: Litigation – Construction Metropolitan Tier 2 Orange County: Family Law San Diego: Litigation – Real Estate Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Dolores Montoya, Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara LLP

---

Yes, Virginia, Contract Terms Do Matter: Financing Term Offers Owner an Escape Hatch

November 25, 2024 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
For this week’s Guest Post Friday, Musings welcomes Timothy R. Hughes, Esq., LEED AP. Tim (@vaconstruction on Twitter) is Of Counsel to the Arlington, Virginia firm of Bean, Kinney & Korman, P.C. In his practice as a business, corporate, and construction law attorney, Tim served as the previous Chair of the Construction Law and Public Contracts Section of the Virginia State Bar. He has served in numerous volunteer, board and leadership roles with such organizations as the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association, Vanguard Services Unlimited, Leadership Arlington, Associated Builders & Contractors (Metro DC and Virginia), and numerous other volunteer and construction trade association activities. A regular speaker and writer, Tim is the lead editor of his firm blog, Virginia Real Estate, Land Use and Construction Law. A recent Virginia case once again demonstrates that contract terms matter. An unusual financing term allowed the owner of a project a complete escape from any liability on a project despite significant work being performed. The opinion from the Circuit Court of Norfolk involved five separate cases consolidated together, four claims by subcontractors and one by the general contractor Turner. All five cases hinged on an unusual financing clause in Turner’s contract with the other. That provision stated: Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

---

Extreme Rainfall Is Becoming More Frequent and Deadly

November 11, 2024 — Lou Del Bello - Bloomberg
Torrential rains that triggered floods and landslides have killed hundreds of people and displaced millions across parts of Africa, Europe, Asia and the US in recent months. The unprecedented deluges overwhelmed even communities accustomed to extreme weather and showed the limitations of the early-warning systems and emergency protocols established in many countries to avoid major loss of life. Climate scientists have warned that an accelerated water cycle is locked into the world’s climate system due to past and projected greenhouse gas emissions, and is now irreversible. The communities that tend to pay the highest price are often in poorer countries, where environments can be more fragile and governance more patchy, and there are fewer resources to bounce back after a disaster. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lou Del Bello, Bloomberg

---

Federal District Court Addresses Material Misrepresentation in First Party Property Damage Claim

August 26, 2024 — James M. Eastham - Traub Lieberman
In Pittsfield Dev. LLC v. Travelers Indem. Co., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117530 (N.D. Ill. July 3, 2024), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois addressed an alleged material misrepresentation by an insured during the course of the adjustment of a water loss claim at an insured property. Subsequent to a pipe burst event which caused damage to a number of the floors in the insured building, the insured submitted a claim to Travelers and also submitted, with the assistance of a retained public adjuster, a damage estimate of the damages at the property. Included within the estimate submitted by the insured was a line item for "Lead Paint & Asbestos Removal" with a corresponding dollar amount of $1,140,000. It was this line item which formed the basis of Travelers' claim of misrepresentation. At his deposition, the public adjuster testified that the $1,140,000 figure was an oral estimate received over the phone from an asbestos remediation company. Travelers disputed the testimony and contended that no such estimate was ever provided. For support, Travelers pointed to deposition testimony from a remediation company employee that while rough estimates were occasionally given verbally, the largest over the phone estimate she could recall was in the $20,000-$25,000 range. It was also disputed that the company would ever provide an oral quote of that magnitude sight unseen, especially since the largest project the remediation company had ever completed was less than $250,000. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of James M. Eastham, Traub Lieberman
Mr. Eastham may be contacted at jeastham@tlsslaw.com

---

Timely and Properly Assert Affirmative Defenses and Understand Statutory Conditions Precedent

August 05, 2024 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
A recent case serves as a reminder to TIMELY and PROPERLY assert affirmative defenses and to understand statutory conditions precedent to construction lien claims. Failing to do one or the other could be severely detrimental to the position you want to take in a dispute, whether it is a lien foreclosure dispute, or any other dispute. In Scherf v. Tom Krips Construction, Inc., 2024 WL 3297592 (Fla. 4th DCA 2024), the president of a construction company and his wife were building a residence. They orally accepted the proposal from the concrete shell contractor and asked for invoices to be submitted to the president’s construction company. No written contract was memorialized. The president and his wife did not pay the concrete shell contractor and the contractor recorded a lien and sued to foreclose on the lien. Years later (the case had been stayed because the president and his wife filed for bankruptcy and the shell contractor had to get leave of the automatic bankruptcy stay to pursue the lien foreclosure), the shell contractor moved for summary judgment. The president and his wife moved for leave to file an amended answer and affirmative defenses. They claimed the oral contract was with the construction company and the shell contractor was required to serve a Notice to Owner under Florida Statute s. 713.06. Alternatively, they argued that if the oral contract was with the president and his wife, the shell contractor was required to serve a Final Contractor’s Payment Affidavit at l
Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (09/06/23) – Nonprofit Helping Marginalized Groups, Life Sciences Taking over Office Space, and Housing Affordability Hits New Low

Missouri Legislature Passes Bill to Drastically Change Missouri’s “Consent Judgment” Statute

Federal Energy Regulator Approves Rule to Speed Clean Energy Grid Links

Eleven Payne & Fears Attorneys Honored by Best Lawyers

Taking Advantage of New Tax Credits and Prevailing Wage Bonuses Under the Inflation Reduction Act for Clean Energy Construction Projects

CDC Issues Moratorium on Residential Evictions Through 2020

FEMA Offers to Review Hurricane Sandy Claims

Some Work Cannot be Included in a Miller Act Claim

Lost Rental Income not a Construction Defect

NY State Appellate Court Holds That Pollution Exclusions Bar Duty to Defend Under Liability Policies for Claims Alleging Exposure to PFAS

New Jersey Courts Sign "Death Knell" for 1979 Weedo Decision

MDL Panel Grants Consolidation for One Group of COVID-19 Claims

How a Robot-Built Habitat on Mars Could Change Construction on Earth

Economic Damages and the Right to Repair Act: You Can’t Have it Both Ways

I.M. Pei, Architect Who Designed Louvre Pyramid, Dies at 102

Are Housing Prices Pois
Buffett Says ‘No-Brainer’ to Get a Mortgage to Short Rates

California Commission Recommends Switching To Fault-Based Wildfire Liability Standard for Public Utilities

Landlord Duties of Repair and Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment

Understand Agreements in Hold Harmless and Indemnity Provisions

Details of Sealed Whistleblower Charges Over Cuomo Bridge Bolts Burst Into Public View

Houston’s High Housing Demand due to Employment Growth

SEC Proposes Rule Requiring Public Firms to Report Climate Risks

Berger: FIGG Is Slow To Hand Over All Bridge Collapse Data

Public Projects in the Pandemic Pandemonium

Pillsbury Insights – Navigating the Real Estate Market During COVID-19

Georgia Court of Appeals Holds That Policyholder Can “Stack” the Limits of Each Primary Policy After Asbestos Claim

Mexico City Metro Collapse Kills 24 After Neighbors’ Warnings

Court Grants Summary Judgment to Insurer in HVAC Defect Case

Adaptive Reuse: Creative Reimagining of Former Office Space to Address Differing Demands

Jury Trials: A COVID Update

Sometimes It’s Okay to Destroy Evidence

Spencer Mayer Receives Miami-Dade Bar Association's '40 Under 40' Award

Certificates as Evidence of Additional Insured Coverage Are All the Rage, But You Deserve Better

Signed, Sealed and (Almost) Delivered: EU Council Authorizes Signing of U.S. – EU Bilateral Insurance Agreement

A Riveting (or at Least Insightful) Explanation of the Privette Doctrine

Economic Loss Doctrine Bars Negligence Claim Against Building Company Owner, Individually

Amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702 – Expert Testimony

Labor Shortage Confirmed Through AGC Poll

Full Extent of Damage From Turkey Quakes Takes Shape

Randy Maniloff Recognized by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® as a "Lawyer of the Year"

Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (08/08/23) – Buy and Sell With AI, Urban Real Estate Demand and Increasing Energy Costs

Manhattan Home Sales Rise at Slower Pace as Prices Jump

Home Building on the Upswing in Bakersfield

Real Estate & Construction News Round-Up (03/01/23) – Mass Timber, IIJA Funding, and Distressed Real Estate

The Increasing Trend of Caps in Construction Contracts and Negotiating Them

How Many Homes have Energy-Efficient Appliances?

OSHA Launches Program to Combat Trenching Accidents

Understanding the California Consumer Privacy Act

Banks Rejected by U.S. High Court on Mortgage Securities Suits

Is Performance Bond Liable for Delay Damages?

Damages in First Trial Establishing Liability of Tortfeasor Binding in Bad Faith Trial Against Insurer

Professor Stempel's Excpert Testimony for Insurer Excluded

Determining Occurrence for Injury Under Commercial General Liability Policy Without Applying “Trigger Theory”

Engineers Found ‘Hundreds’ of Cracks in California Bridge

Defining a Property Management Agreement

Construction Mediation Tips for Practitioners and 'Eyes Only' Tips for Construction Mediators

Newmeyer Dillion Announces Partner John Van Vlear Named to Board Of Groundwater Resources Association Of California

And the Cyber-Beat Goes On. Yet Another Cyber Regulatory Focus for Insurers

Nomos LLP Partners Recognized in Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists

Insurer Motion to Intervene in Underlying Case Denied

Everyone Wins When a Foreclosure Sale Generates Excess Proceeds

Colorado Legislature Considering Making it Easier to Prevail on CCPA Claims

CDJ’s #4 Topic of the Year: KB Home Greater Los Angeles, Inc. v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Rise in Home Building Helps Other Job Sectors

District of Oregon Predicts Oregon’s Place in “Plain Meaning” Pollution Camp
1132

Golf Resorts Offering Yoga, Hovercraft Rides to the Green
pan itemprop="name">Drones, Googleplexes and Hyperloops

Condominium Association Wins $5 Million Judgment against Developer

Eastern District of Pennsylvania Confirms Carrier Owes No Duty to Defend Against Claims for Faulty Workmanship

Changes To Commercial Item Contracting

Leveraging the 50-State Initiative, Connecticut and Maine Team Secure Full Dismissal of Coverage Claim for Catastrophic Property Loss

Traub Lieberman Elects New Partners for 2020

Congratulations Devin Brunson on His Promotion to Partner!

The New Jersey Theme Park Where Kids’ Backhoe Dreams Come True

Cybersecurity on Your Project: Why Not Follow National Security Strategy?

Will Colorado Pass a Construction Defect Reform Bill in 2016?