Publication
Under Construction – September 2011
September 2011
A Letter from the Editor
By James J. Sienicki
Welcome to our fall 2011 issue. Recovery has certainly been a keyword when it comes to recent developments in our national economy. Recovery is also the theme of our first two articles. We start off with a California case where the court held that a contractor may recover costs against a public entity that failed to disclose material information about a project at bid time without proving fraud. In a second article, we show how the Arizona Supreme Court held in favor of an Arizona developer that recovered its costs of repairing defective homes from its commercial general liability insurer. Federal contracting is the next topic in an article that identifies issues construction companies must consider when developing joint ventures or Teaming Agreements to take advantage of set asides or preferences when pursuing federal government construction contracts. Our fourth article also involves federal contracting and the requirement of alleging specific versus general facts in a false claims complaint against the contractor. Next, we address recent developments under Colorado’s Homeowner Protection Act of 2007 and how they will impact the way residential developers, general contractors, subcontractors and design professionals structure their contractual relationships. From Colorado, we move to Utah to summarize significant changes made during the 2011 Utah State Legislature on its mechanics' lien laws relative to HB 260 – Mechanics Lien Revisions and HB 115 – Mechanics' Lien Amendments / Preconstruction Services. Our final article reviews the first Arizona Court of Appeals case that considered and held that a residential property owned by a trust was still considered "owner occupied" for purposes of the "owner occupant" exception to Arizona's mechanics' lien laws. As a result, residential contractors need to determine whether the owner is an "owner occupant" and to protect themselves accordingly in order to be paid.
If you have questions or comments about any of these articles, you may email the attorney(s) who authored the article, the editor or your regular Snell & Wilmer contact. If you have any suggestions for future articles, please feel free to email them to me.
Sincerely,
Jim Sienicki
About Snell & Wilmer
Founded in 1938, Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 500 attorneys practicing in 16 locations throughout the United States and in Mexico, including Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, California; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Boise, Idaho; Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Portland, Oregon; Dallas, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; and Los Cabos, Mexico. The firm represents clients ranging from large, publicly traded corporations to small businesses, individuals and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit swlaw.com.
