Review The Obvious
Just as football fans know that the New England Patriots have recently appeared in (and won) more than their fair share of Super Bowl games, construction business owners know the construction field has more than its fair share of liability risk. Prudence dictates an occasional review of the obvious in monitoring and managing a construction…
Read More +Subcontractor Win in Illinois
The Illinois Supreme Court rendered a very important decision on December 28th impacting the real estate and construction industry. In Sienna Court v. Champion Aluminum, the Court determined that the purchaser of a newly constructed home may NOT assert a claim for breach of an implied warranty of habitability against a subcontractor who took part…
Read More +Developer Win in Missouri
The Missouri Public Service Commission has entered a ruling which supports development in Missouri. Under its ruling, Missouri developers will not be required to pay a tax that investor-owned water and sewer utilities are now required to pay, as a result of a change made to the federal tax code by the 2017 Tax Cut…
Read More +Construction Professionals Beware: Does Your Insurance Policy Cover Construction-Defect Claims?
A recent Missouri Court of Appeals held that commercial general liability insurance does not provide coverage against certain construction-defect claims. In View Home Owners Association v. The Burlington Insurance Company, the court was presented with the question of whether the commercial general liability policy at issue provided coverage for negligent acts allegedly committed during the…
Read More +Attention Subcontractors!
Check out this article by attorney Ross Boden published in The Contractor’s Compass titled, “LEGALLY SPEAKING: OSHA Compliance Tips on Multi-Employer Work Sites and Joint-Employer Relationships.” It summarizes the responsibilities you need to know to help you escape your next OSHA inspection without a dreaded citation. LEGALLY SPEAKING: OSHA Compliance Tips on Multi-Employer Work Sites…
Read More +Baseball Arbitration In Construction Can Be Good In A Pinch
Laying the Ground Rules In traditional baseball arbitration, one side claims they should be paid one amount, while the other side insists that amount should be different. Both try to prove their case before an arbitrator who will ultimately choose one of the two numbers — nothing higher, lower or in between. Outside of…
Read More +New Protections for Interior Design Professionals
Under new legislation, interior designers are now protected under the Illinois Mechanic’s Lien Act. Contractors and owners in Illinois should now include interior design professionals in their list of sub-contractors from whom they should require a release of mechanic’s lien upon payment. By Sue Schultz
Read More +“Oooops… I HAVE BLOWN MY LIEN TIME!… NOW WHAT DO I DO?”
Mechanic’s liens are without a doubt a subcontractor’s best collection tool when there are payment problems. The sources of its power are (1) the risk that the property will be sold to satisfy the lien, (2) the threat that the owner, in order to prevent foreclosure, may have to pay the subcontractor even if the…
Read More +Important Workshop
Given the negative impact on development that a new tax the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 placed on contributed utility infrastructure, the staff of the Missouri Public Service Commission is holding a workshop to address the tax, on July 19th, starting at 10 a.m. at Room 450 in the Governor’s Office Building, 200…
Read More +Developers Beware
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 has placed a tax on the utility infrastructure that you either install and contribute to investor owned utilities that serve your developments (known as contributions in aid of construction or CIAC) or the cash you pay to the investor owned utility to install that infrastructure (known as…
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