Publication

Under Construction – July 2020

Jul 10, 2020

Letter From the Editor

Welcome to the summer edition of our Under Construction newsletter. We hope you, your family and your company are doing well during this unique time.

Coincidently, we begin with an article about recovering construction costs related to a virus outbreak. This article examines a court case arising out of a federal government contract seeking compensation for construction costs when a project was shut down due to a previous virus outbreak – Ebola. The court held that the costs were not compensable under a force majeure, cardinal change or constructive change basis. This article is certainly timely in today’s construction climate.

Next, in another timely article, we look at delay and disruption claims in the time of COVID-19. Although these claims are a risk in normal conditions, the current pandemic presents another level of risk and analysis.

COVID-19 has also changed the way many businesses operate and the design and construction industry may need to adapt. Our next article explores design and construction in a post-coronavirus world and how shared spaces and buildings may need to be designed and built differently because of health concerns.

Turning away from COVID-19 issues, our next article looks at the new ConsensusDocs – Lean Addendum to incorporate Lean practices in the design-build project delivery method.

We then look at California’s "pay-when-paid" contract clause and how a recent case may be a reason to revisit this clause in your California construction agreements.

The next article discusses Utah’s case UDOT v. Target Corp, which clarified the standard by which a property owner is entitled to severance damages for condemned property. The case arose from a UDOT highway construction project in which it condemned a small portion of Target’s property to reconstruct an interchange.

Many construction and design contracts have limitation of liability clauses. Our last article examines possible exceptions to the enforceability of limitation of liability clauses under an Arizona law.

We hope you find these articles informative and enlightening. Please let us know if you want us to address a specific construction issue in a future newsletter. Stay Safe!

Regards,
Jim Sienicki

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