COCOA BEACH FLORIDA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Utah’s Emerging Framework for Responsible Data Center Development

September 08, 2026 — Denise A. Dragoo & Josh Miller - Snell & Wilmer
Utah is establishing itself as one of the nation’s most attractive jurisdictions for large-scale data center development, with a structured, defensible regulatory pathway that gives developers and investors the clarity needed to deploy capital at scale. The cornerstone is Executive Order 2026-03, “Establishing a Higher Bar for Data Center Development in Utah,” signed by Governor Spencer J. Cox on May 29, 2026. The Executive Order creates an actionable compliance framework letting developers demonstrate stewardship across water, air quality, energy, wildlife, and community engagement – reducing regulatory and reputational risk. Recent enactments on energy self-supply and water rights operationalize these principles, while a few counties have adopted short-term local moratoria to update zoning; understanding how these interact with the state framework matters for site selection. Reprinted courtesy of Denise A. Dragoo, Snell & Wilmer and Josh Miller, Snell & Wilmer Ms. Dragoo may be contacted at ddragoo@swlaw.com Mr. Miller may be contacted at jmiller@swlaw.com Read the full story...

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$10.5M Settlement Ends George Washington Bridge Debris Liability Fight

September 15, 2026 — Bryan Gottlieb - Engineering News-Record
A $10.5-million settlement that recently came to light has ended a six-year legal fight over whether a truck part that may have been lying on the George Washington Bridge roadway for more than 10 minutes was there long enough for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to have found and removed it before it caused a catastrophic accident. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Bryan Gottlieb, Engineering News-Record
Mr. Gottlieb may be contacted at gottliebb@enr.com

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D.C. Circuit Upholds EPA’s CERCLA Hazardous-Substance Designations for PFAS as State-Law Settlements Highlight Expanding Liability Landscape

September 15, 2026 — Ashleigh K. Myers, Amanda G. Halter, Jillian Marullo & Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
On August 18, 2026, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the 2024 designation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). (See Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. EPA, No. 24-1193 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 18, 2026).) The decision leaves EPA’s PFOA and PFOS hazardous substance designations in place and provides guidance on the scope of EPA’s authority to make future hazardous substances designations under CERCLA Section 102(a). The decision also likely resolves a challenge to the rule that has spanned two presidential administrations. After taking office, the Trump administration had obtained an abeyance of the litigation challenging the Biden-era rule while EPA reconsidered its position. In September 2025, EPA informed the court that it had decided to retain the designations, while signaling that it would work with Congress and industry to address CERCLA liability concerns for “passive receivers.” The litigation then resumed, with the current Administration defending the rule. Reprinted courtesy of Ashleigh K. Myers, Pillsbury, Amanda G. Halter, Pillsbury, Jillian Marullo, Pillsbury and Anthony B. Cavender, Pillsbury Ms. Myers may be contacted at ashleigh.myers@pillsburylaw.com Ms. Halter may be contacted at amanda.halter@pillsburylaw.com Ms. Marullo may be contacted at jillian.marullo@pillsburylaw.com Mr. Cavender may be contacted at anthony.cavender@pillsburylaw.com Read the full story...

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Predict Risk, Not Incidents: A New Analytics Framework for Your Construction Safety Data

August 03, 2026 — Tabrez Zahoor - Construction Executive
Behind every “zero-incidents” company report, hidden hazards may already be accumulating—risks that could become serious injuries tomorrow. The question every executive should be asking is not, “Did anything go wrong last month?” It is: “Where is risk building on my projects right now?” Most construction organizations cannot answer that question. Not because the data does not exist—it does. Every active project generates daily inspection findings, labor records, near-miss reports and audit results. The problem is that standard safety systems collect this data and then report it in ways that make it operationally useless for prevention. They describe the past. They predict nothing. The predictive safety analytics framework (PSAF) is a practical, deployable system developed from years of applying data science to large-scale construction portfolio operations that takes the safety data construction organizations already collect and transforms it into a forward-looking risk signal. The result? A single weekly score that tells executives where risk is concentrating across their portfolio before anyone gets hurt. Reprinted courtesy of Tabrez Zahoor, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the full story...

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Surety Requiring Collateral Security Under General Agreement of Indemnity

September 08, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
In order to procure bonds (payment and performance bonds), you need to sign a General Agreement of Indemnity (referred to as the “GAI”) with the surety (bonding company). It does not matter the surety issuing the bonds, the terms and conditions in the General Agreement of Indemnity are largely consistent. These terms and conditions are one-sided written in favor of the surety. This is because bonds are not insurance. When a surety issues such bonds, it is doing so under the premise that it will get reimbursed every penny that it incurs relative to its exposure- whether incurred in attorney’s fees, consulting costs, or remediating a default or claim under the applicable bond. The General Agreement of Indemnity is one of the most powerful contracts in construction and is a contract that is not to be taken lightly. It provides the surety numerous rights in the event of a claim. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

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Construction Robotics Works Where Variation Ends

August 11, 2026 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
BuiltWorlds published its 2026 Robotics Top 50 this summer, and the list is genuinely wide. Fifty solutions across nine categories, from 3D printing and prefabricated component manufacturing to earthmoving, demolition, material transport, layout, installation, inspection, and drilling. The honorees come from sixteen countries. It looks like robotics has finally spread across the whole project lifecycle. However, having vendors in nine categories does not mean that contractors are robotizing their work en masse. Zacua Ventures, in its 2026 construction robotics report, estimates that on-site robotics accounted for less than 0.03% of global construction spending in 2025. Zacua says: “That is not a failed market. It is a market at the beginning of an adoption S-curve”, while warning that its estimates rest on private vendor data and may be high if vendors overstate how widely their machines are deployed. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

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Four HHMR Attorneys Recognized in the 2027 Editions of Best Lawyers®

September 21, 2026 — Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLC - Colorado Construction Litigation Blog
Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLC is proud to announce that Best Lawyers® has recognized four HHMR attorneys in the 2027 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for their work in construction law and construction litigation. David M. McLain, Lisa Bondy Dunn, and Steven L. Heisdorffer earned recognition in the 2027 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Ricky L. Nolen, Jr. earned recognition in the 2027 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America. For a firm that has deliberately focused its practice on construction law and construction litigation for nearly 25 years, we take particular pride in seeing that focus reflected in the recognition of lawyers across different generations of HHMR. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLC

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UPDATED: No Easy Fix for Potomac River Sewage Spill, Now Estimated at $20M

April 08, 2026 — Jim Parsons & Debra K. Rubin - Engineering News-Record
One month after a collapsed pipeline north of Washington, D.C., spilled about 240 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River and possibly between 300 and 400 million—which could be the largest wastewater spill in U.S. history—efforts are progressing to clear the damaged section and begin repairs despite weather and other impacts. Reprinted courtesy of Jim Parsons, Engineering News-Record and Debra K. Rubin, Engineering News-Record Ms. Rubin may be contacted at rubind@enr.com Read the full story...

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