Safeguarding Your Privileged Construction Information With a Clawback Agreement
June 08, 2026 —
Laura Fraher - Construction ExecutiveFor contractors and construction executives, a
dispute that escalates to litigation brings risks that go well beyond the jobsite. When a dispute escalates to litigation, the attorney-client privilege is a critical protection to safeguard your interests. Disclosing privileged material can undermine your litigation position and, in some cases, negatively impact your business. In the construction context, this often includes sensitive communications about project delays, defect investigations, safety incidents or payment disputes—materials that can significantly impact both liability and reputation.
During litigation, the discovery process requires the exchange of documents and data with your adversary. If privileged materials are disclosed to your adversary during discovery you risk the waiver of your privilege, which in plain terms means you lose the protection of the privilege and make the privileged information, and in some cases all other information related to the same subject matter, available to your adversary. It is critical that your attorney take steps to protect against the unintentional disclosure of privileged materials during discovery to avoid a waiver.
Reprinted courtesy of
Laura Fraher, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
Read the full story...Ms. Fraher may be contacted at
lfraher@barclaydamon.com
The Firm Turns 16!
July 20, 2026 —
Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law MusingsI have always found it appropriate that my jump to solo practice and Independence Day are so close in time. Today marks the 16th anniversary of
my first day as a solo practitioner of construction law at
The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PC. Time sure has flown by thanks to the great clients and friends who followed me to solo practice and whom I have met since the firm’s founding on July 1, 2010. I also could not have made the transition and had the fun and success I have enjoyed over the past 16 years without the support of the best wife and family that any construction lawyer could want.
Since the firm’s last anniversary, my youngest child (who was 7 when this journey began!) has graduated from N. C. State University with a fisheries and wildlife biology degree and is currently in Casper, Wyoming working for
Wyoming Game & Fish, my second oldest is an assistant director of admissions at
Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, and has celebrated his second wedding anniversary, and my oldest has celebrated her fifth marriage anniversary. Our home in Captiva, Florida continues its recovery from from Hurricane Ian and subsequent hurricanes.
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The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Project Labor Agreements: A New Bid Protest Forum Split
May 14, 2026 —
Dirk D. Haire, David P.J. Timm and Michael J. Brewer - ConsensusDocsAdvertisements 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...
Chambers USA Recognizes Hunton’s Insurance Coverage Practice in 2026 Guide
June 29, 2026 —
Hunton Insurance Recovery BlogHunton is pleased to announce that its insurance coverage practice was recognized nationally for Insurance: Dispute Resolution – Policyholder in the recently released 2026 Chambers USA guide. The team also received state rankings in Florida (Insurance: Dispute Resolution), Georgia (Insurance), the District of Columbia (Insurance: Policyholder), and Massachusetts (Insurance).
In addition to the insurance team’s group recognition across multiple states, the 2026 guide included individual rankings for
Lorelie “Lorie” S. Masters (USA Nationwide and District of Columbia),
Latosha M. Ellis (District of Columbia),
Michael S. Levine (District of Columbia),
Koorosh “KT” Talieh (District of Columbia),
Walter J. Andrews (Florida),
Andrea DeField (Florida),
Cary D. Steklof (Florida),
Lawrence J. Bracken II (Georgia), and
Geoffrey B. Fehling (Massachusetts).
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Rogue AI — Is Your Company Prepared?
September 28, 2026 —
Michael S. Levine - Hunton Insurance Recovery BlogThe recent wave of "rogue AI" incidents should be a wake-up call for every business leader and risk manager paying attention.
Recent accounts document a sobering reality: AI systems from multiple leading AI developers have each escaped controlled testing environments and caused real-world harm—compromising outside infrastructure, exploiting third-party vulnerabilities, and even canceling another person's reservation to help a user jump a waitlist. These aren't hypotheticals from a sci-fi movie. They happened this summer.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Michael S. Levine, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLPMr. Levine may be contacted at
mlevine@hunton.com
Consider The Limited Warranty from Your Homebuilder
July 06, 2026 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesWhen purchasing a home from a homebuilder, there is an important consideration when it comes to the limited warranty you receive around the time you close on the home. That limited warranty likely includes an arbitration provision requiring you to arbitrate your disputes, such as construction defect claims, against the homebuilder. That arbitration provision will most likely include all claims, including statutory claims (such as a statutory violation of a building code claim), requiring you to arbitrate, as opposed to litigate, your disputes against the homebuilder. This is an important consideration. If the arbitration provision does not allow you to arbitrate all of your claims, and eliminates your rights to legitimate statutory claims, the arbitration provision could be unenforceable.
By way of example, in a residential construction defect dispute, Anderson v. Taylor Morrison of Florida, Inc., 223 So.3d 1088 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017), the appeal turned on whether the arbitration provision in the homebuilder’s limited warranty was valid. The homeowners took possession of their home in 2009. In 2015, the homeowners served a Florida Statutes Chapter 558 notice of construction defects that included a statutory violation of a building code claim under Florida Statute §553.84. The limited warranty included an arbitration provision that specified it was the “exclusive remedy” for all disputes arising out of or related to the warranty or issues with the home and property. When read together with the warranty’s disclaimer that precluded claims not covered by the warranty “whether in contract, tort, or otherwise,” the statutory building code violation claim could not be remedied through arbitration because it fell outside the warranty’s coverage.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
David Adelstein, Kirwin NorrisMr. Adelstein may be contacted at
dma@kirwinnorris.com
Not Every Job Is Worth Winning: Contract Risk Questions Contractors Should Ask Before They Bid
September 29, 2026 —
Jack Mayo - ConsensusDocsIntroduction
Winning the work is not the same as winning the project, at least financially. Consider a contractor that commits to procure custom or long-lead materials before receiving complete construction documents. Depending on the language of the contract, if the final design is altered after those materials have been ordered, the contractor may be left responsible for replacement costs, procurement delays, or both. Alternatively, a subcontractor that accepts a pay-if-paid provision without investigating the owner’s financing, or prematurely waives lien rights, potentially risks nonpayment for properly performed work.
Such concessions can quickly transform an apparently profitable project into a significant financial burden. A successful bid can therefore become an unsuccessful project if the contractor accepts contractual “red flags” without evaluating their consequences and the long-term financial impacts that they may have. The significance of each risk will depend on the project, the parties, the proposed contract, applicable law, and the contractor’s business objectives. Although not comprehensive, this article identifies several key considerations for that process to help mitigate certain risks.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Jack Mayo, Jones Walker LLPMr. Mayo may be contacted at
jmayo@joneswalker.com
EPA Expands PFAS Reporting Requirements with Addition of New Chemical to Toxics Release Inventory, Published by Law360
June 08, 2026 —
Gordon Rees Scully MansukhaniThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) addition of sodium perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS-Na) to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) introduces new federal reporting requirements for businesses that manufacture, process, or use the chemical. Because reporting obligations apply retroactively to the start of the year, affected facilities must quickly evaluate their compliance and recordkeeping practices.
In a recent Law360 article, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Senior Counsel, Ayodeji Ayolola, explains why PFHxS-Na was automatically added to the TRI, how the EPA’s public reporting system works, and which businesses may be affected by the new rule. The article also touches upon key compliance considerations, including supply chain reviews, reporting thresholds for chemicals of special concern, and preparation for public disclosure requirements.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani
