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In construction, the vast majority or contract forms between owners, general contractors, and subcontractors contained arbitration clauses until very recently. Now that the AIA A101 and A201 no longer have arbitration as the default dispute resolution forum, more construction contracts refer parties to the courts for dispute resolution and litigation [...]
I have written about the Houston Court of Appeals' decision in Port of Houston v. Zachry addressing that court's interpretation of the No Damages for Delay Clause in the contract between those parties. (See my post below from October 6, 2012). Both Owners and Contractors should be aware of the [...]
Texas Construction Trust Funds The link provided will take you to a short article I had published in Texas Contractor Magazine about the Texas Trust Fund Statute. That stature is the subject of current debate amongst legal practitioners. In many cases where I represent general contracors against subcontractors on payment [...]
A Challenge to Certificate of Merit Survives Non-Suit Much has been written by both courts and practitioners about the certificate of merit statute and the requirements of the affidavit that must be attached to an original petition when suing a design professional for negligence. This week, in the opinion for [...]
Sovereign immunity has it origins in English law and was carried to American jurisprudence. In modern use, it protects the state, its various arms, and agencies from being sued for both tort and breach of contract claims. In Texas, in order for an arm of the state to be subject [...]
A group of landowners from Clint, Texas has recently filed a lawsuit because of structural and other damages that have allegedly resulted from excessive amounts of groundwater being pumped out of the water table beneath their land. Clint is a town in far west Texas near El Paso. The lawsuit [...]
In recent weeks I have been approached by multiple clients seeking to construct projects using the construction manager at risk delivery method. These clients were public owners who are bound to the delivery methods contained in the Texas Government Code chapter 2267. In addition to the traditional design/bid/build method, chapter [...]
I've recently been asked to address the question of a contractor's right to terminate a contract in the AIA A201-2007 as well as two customized sets of general conditions that were being negotiated by clients for new, ground-up, vertical construction projects. Each contract I was given to review dealt with [...]
At the Annual International Municipal Lawyers Conference in Austin, Texas this week, those of us participating in a panel discussion on IMLA's Construction Contract Drafting Initiative (CCDI) were somewhat surprised to learn just how many city attorney's in the audience had clients who were using the design/build procurement method on [...]
A No Damages for Delay Clause can be included in construction contracts to prevent either party from being able to recover monetary damages for delays that occur on a Project. These clauses are enforceable if they are mutually applicable to all parties to the contract. In the recent history of [...]