CHILLICOTHE IOWA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Supply Chain Is a Legal Exposure—Not Just a Force Majeure Problem

September 08, 2026 — Owen Newman - Construction Executive
This is not another force majeure article. The supply-chain related legal exposure that contractors are carrying today—in sanctions risk, specification non-compliance, warranty exposure and regulatory volatility—extends well beyond what even a well-drafted force majeure clause protects. An engineering, procurement and construction contractor on a gas-fired power plant discovers during commissioning that transformer oil in a critical unit contains Russian-origin naphthenic base oil, which is a prohibited source under Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions. The contractor didn’t source it. A subsupplier two tiers below made the substitution when disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz tightened the primary supply chain for this specialty product and no one in the purchase-order chain flagged it. The procurement decision is long done and the documentation trail that should have caught it doesn’t exist. Reprinted courtesy of Owen Newman, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the full story...
Mr. Newman may be contacted at oknewman@duanemorris.com

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Project Labor Agreements: A New Bid Protest Forum Split

May 14, 2026 — Dirk D. Haire, David P.J. Timm and Michael J. Brewer - ConsensusDocs
Advertisements often include a disclaimer: “individual results may vary.” Similarly, lawyers are notorious for saying “it depends.” The mandatory Project Labor Agreement (“PLA”) regulations have recently placed into context this adage as it applies to federal contract bid protests, with very different results depending on which forum – the Court of Federal Claims (“COFC”) versus the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) – different contractors have selected to bring PLA bid protests. Over the last two years, over 30 protesters have successfully achieved removal of mandatory PLAs from large-scale federal construction contracts based on two landmark bid protest decisions issued by the COFC. Similar challenges to PLAs at the GAO, however, have not been successful in removing PLAs, highlighting an emerging trend that the COFC is often a more effective relief forum than GAO for government construction contractors. Reprinted courtesy of Dirk D. Haire, Burr & Forman LLP, David P.J. Timm, Burr & Forman LLP and Michael J. Brewer, Burr & Forman LLP Mr. Haire may be contacted at dhaire@burr.com Mr. Timm may be contacted at dtimm@burr.com Mr. Brewer may be contacted at mbrewer@burr.com Read the full story...

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Tony Sonnett Secures Highly Favorable Verdict for Client in Admitted Liability Case in Which Plaintiff Sought $34.5M

September 29, 2026 — Lewis Brisbois
Los Angeles Partner Tony Sonnett recently obtained a highly favorable verdict for his property owner client in an admitted liability case in which the plaintiff had asked for $34.5 million, with a jury awarding just $75,000. The plaintiff, who was a tenant at one of the client’s rental properties, was injured in October 2020 as he was attempting to close the heavy metal blinds that were affixed to the 12-foot floor-to-ceiling windows of the property. The blinds and their heavy metal covering detached from the wall and fell on the plaintiff’s head, causing him to suffer a scalp laceration that required stitches. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

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World's Longest Immersed Tunnel Passes Milestone, But Faces Delays

August 03, 2026 — James Leggate - Engineering News-Record
Work on the $8-billion Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, which is planned to link Germany and Denmark as the world’s longest immersed tunnel, is progressing as crews achieved a milestone last month with the successful immersion of its first precast concrete element. But Danish state-owned project owner Femern A/S says the plan is now running at least two years behind schedule and the tunnel’s road and rail portions will open in two separate stages. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of James Leggate, Engineering News-Record
Mr. Leggate may be contacted at leggatej@enr.com

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Mark Cronenwett Obtains Appellate Ruling Vacating Default Judgment Against Mortgage Lender Client

October 12, 2026 — Lewis Brisbois
Dallas Partner Mark Cronenwett recently secured a decision from the Dallas Court of Appeals that vacated a default judgment against his mortgage lender client, on the grounds that the client was never properly served with the complaint. In prior litigation, a real property investor purchased a Texas residential property for pennies on the dollar at an HOA foreclosure sale. That investor then filed a frivolous lawsuit against Lewis Brisbois' mortgage-lender client to invalidate its lien, contending that mortgage lender had abandoned the debt because it failed to respond to the investor’s alleged requests for information about the amounts owed on the loan. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

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How Engineers Will Determine Why NYC's Pfizer HQ Conversion Buckled

July 13, 2026 — Bryan Gottlieb - Engineering News-Record
Construction crews have stabilized the former Pfizer headquarters redevelopment in Midtown Manhattan after two load-bearing structural columns buckled on the 21st floor July 7. The focus has now shifted from emergency response to determining what caused the office-to-residential conversion to suffer a major structural failure. 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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Potential Gap in Workers Compensation Immunity Statutory Framework

June 02, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
Workers compensation insurance is important. As an owner, you want to ensure the contractors you hire have workers compensation insurance. Assuming you hire a contractor that is statutorily exempt from workers compensation, you want to make sure, no exception, that any subcontractor that is hired has workers compensation insurance. (Regardless, you always want subcontractors to have workers compensation insurance.). In construction, the prime contractor serves as the “statutory employer” for purposes of workers compensation insurance. With workers compensation comes workers compensation immunity. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

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Celebrating Freedom: The Overlooked Freedom to Contract in Commercial Insurance

July 20, 2026 — Michael S. Levine & Andrea DeField - Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog
Happy 4th and 250 years of freedom . . . to contract! Many policyholders assume insurance policies are “standard” and must be accepted as-is. That assumption is often wrong—and dangerously limiting. Unlike many consumer insurance markets, the commercial insurance realm preserves a robust “freedom to contract,” allowing sophisticated policyholders to negotiate terms, exclusions, definitions, and limits before a policy is even issued. Particularly in recent years, high-profile disputes over cyber coverage, business interruption, and war/cyber exclusions have shown not just what happens when coverage is denied, but what could have been done up front to avoid those fights. This post highlights the power policyholders still hold in the negotiation process and illustrates, with concrete examples from recent media-covered disputes, how that freedom can be strategically used. Reprinted courtesy of Michael S. Levine, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and Andrea DeField, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Mr. Levine may be contacted at mlevine@hunton.com Ms. DeField may be contacted at adefield@hunton.com Read the full story...

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