ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Eighth Circuit Finds that “Ensuing Loss” Clause Does Not Restore Coverage for Faulty Subcontractor Work

April 22, 2025 — Jason Taylor - Traub Lieberman Insurance Law Blog
In Bob Robinson Commercial Flooring Inc. v. RLI Ins. Co., No. 23-2531 (8th Cir. Mar. 19, 2025), the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals had occasion to determine whether an exception to property insurance exclusions known as the “ensuing loss clause,” applied to faulty work of the insured’s subcontractor. By way of background, Nabholz Construction Company (“Nabholz”) hired Bob Robinson Commercial Flooring, Inc. (“BRCF”) to install a vinyl gym floor with painted volleyball and basketball lines at a middle school in Trumann, Arkansas. BRCF installed the gym floor and subcontracted the painting portion of the project to Robert Liles Parking Lot Services (“Liles”). Liles’s painting work was faulty, including crooked lines, incorrect markings, and smudges. Nabholz rejected the gym floor because of the subcontractor’s misapplication of the paint. Because the defective painting could not be removed from the vinyl flooring, to correct the project error BRCF had to remove and replace the floor and paint new lines at a total cost exceeding $181,000. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jason Taylor, Traub Lieberman
Mr. Taylor may be contacted at jtaylor@tlsslaw.com

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No Expert Testimony for You: Maryland Federal Court Deems Expert Testimony Inadmissible

February 25, 2025 — Katherine Q. Dempsey - The Subrogation Strategist
In Rich v. Plumbing No. 1:23-cv-00705-SAG, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2263, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland considered two motions for summary judgment, each arguing that the court should exclude the testimony of the plaintiff’s expert. Although the court allowed the plaintiff to file a supplemental brief, it ultimately granted the defendants’ motions for summary judgment. Consequently, the court deemed the testimony of the plaintiff’s one and only expert inadmissible. The plaintiff, Whitney Rich, on behalf of C.W., brought this action after her young infant, C.W., suffered severe burns from a bathtub in their rental property. The plaintiff alleged that the landlord, Marilyn L. Dennison (Landlord), and the plumbing company, Dennison Plumbing & Heating, were liable for C.W.’s injuries because the excessively hot water temperature in the rental property resulted in the burns. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Katherine Q. Dempsey, White and Williams LLP
Ms. Dempsey may be contacted at dempseyk@whiteandwilliams.com

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LA’s Wildfire Recovery Shifts to Costly and Chaotic Rebuilding

April 22, 2025 — John Gittelsohn - Bloomberg
Across the fire-ravaged neighborhoods around Los Angeles, the Army Corps of Engineers has deployed battalions of excavators to topple chimneys, uproot trees and scrape away the ashes of thousands of homes, preparing the ground for new construction. Signs for contractors offering their services dot burned-out lots. For homeowners who lost their residences, the attention has turned to rebuilding—quickly and affordably. In Altadena, where the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and nearly wiped out the community, a half-dozen neighbors met a contractor on Glenrose Avenue this month to discuss building new houses from the rubble. A separate group of 100 property owners have banded together to share architects and contractors, hoping to cut costs as they work to restore their homes. Over near the Pacific Palisades, dozens of homeowners who lost properties convened at a Santa Monica hotel last month to hear from a developer with proposals to rebuild using pre-planned models. The price, starting around roughly $3 million, is fixed with homes set for delivery within a year of breaking ground. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of John Gittelsohn, Bloomberg

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How Finns Cut Construction Lead Times in Half

December 17, 2024 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
Rakennustieto organized a Q&A on December 5, 2024, titled “Halving Construction Lead Times—Responsible or Irresponsible?” The discussion focused on speeding up residential construction and renovations. The experts answering questions were representatives from two Finnish contractors (COfLOW and Fira), a client organization (HOAS), a building materials retailer (STARK), and a research institute. Can you halve construction lead time without sacrificing quality? Jaana Matilainen of Rakennustieto asked the panelists whether halving construction time is a realistic goal today, whether they can provide any examples, and if the speed-up has increased or decreased quality. 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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Time Is Money on Construction Projects and Categories of Delay

March 04, 2025 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
As we know on construction projects, the adage “time is money” always applies. It applies to contractors just as much as owners. If a project is delayed, a contractor incurs additional overhead costs known as general conditions and general requirements which are driven by time. Similarly, an owner experiences its own delay damages driven by time which can be in the form of loss of use, increased or additional financing, and increased or additional consulting (architect/engineering) costs. From an owner’s perspective, an owner’s damages are oftentimes captured in a negotiated liquidated damages clause designed to capture owner’s delay damages by liquidating the daily amount. A contractor typically would prefer liquidated damages versus the unknown and uncapped exposure of actual damages which could be astronomical depending on the project. A contract could also include a stipulated daily rate for the contractor’s delay damages (general conditions and general requirements) which a contractor may or may not want to negotiate and include. Regardless, this all stems from the adage “time is money” which means what it says to all parties on a construction project. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

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Let’s Get Specific: Rhode Island Court Asserts Jurisdiction Over Out-of-State Manufacturer

February 04, 2025 — Gus Sara - The Subrogation Strategist
In Federal Ins. Co. v. J. Gallant Elec. Servs., Inc. No. 1-22- CV-00123-MSM-LDA, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218185, the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island considered whether it could exercise personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state, third-party defendant. The court granted the third-party defendant’s first motion to dismiss for lack of general jurisdiction but permitted the parties to conduct jurisdictional discovery. After the close of jurisdictional discovery, the third-party defendant renewed its motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. This time, the court found that, based on the record, it could exercise specific personal jurisdiction over the third-party defendant. The plaintiff, Federal Insurance Company (Insurer), brought this subrogation action after its insured, the Town of Westerly, sustained a water loss at a public elementary school in 2020. The water loss occurred while the school was undergoing renovations. A defendant, Advanced Safety Systems (Advanced), was retained to replace the fire suppression system in the computer server room. Advanced subcontracted with defendant J. Gallant Electrical Services (Gallant) to replace the electrical service panel for the sprinkler system. Gallant was in process of deenergizing the fire suppression system when the system discharged, causing damage to the equipment in the server room. After paying its insured for the damage, Insurer sued Advanced and Gallant for negligence and breach of contract, alleging that Gallant was careless in causing the system to discharge. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Gus Sara, White and Williams
Mr. Sara may be contacted at sarag@whiteandwilliams.com

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“You Can’t Climb a Tile Wall”

February 03, 2025 — Daniel Lund III - Lexology
… or, in certain circumstances, walk on a tile floor. A Louisiana appellate court reversed a trial court’s summary judgment in favor of a project architect in a case involving liability for a slip-and-fall incident at a pool area and a casino in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The plaintiff alleged that travertine tile on which she slipped was unsuitable for wet areas, thus failing to meet the necessary safety standards. The architect – the professional of record for the original design of the casino – attempted to deflect responsibility by arguing that a landscape architect which specified the travertine was an independent contractor and thus solely liable for any issues related to the tile. Ultimately, however, the court held that the absence of a contract between the architect and landscape architect left unresolved questions about the nature of their relationship and the degree of control the former exercised over the work of the latter. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Daniel Lund III, Phelps
Mr. Lund may be contacted at daniel.lund@phelps.com

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The Long Road to Change: Understanding Resistance to Innovation

February 03, 2025 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
If you read this newsletter, you probably plan or have tried implementing new technologies in your or your customer’s organization, whether successfully or unsuccessfully. I’ve been there, and it’s not easy or fast. Sometimes, it takes three, five, or ten years for the momentum for a positive and rational change to emerge. Persistence and patience are needed, but those qualities are rare today. While preparing a podcast interview about implementing AI in construction companies, I discovered a research article by professors Antti Ainamo and Antti Peltokorpi titled Innovation Meets Institutions: AI and the Finnish Construction Ecosystem. The article uses cognitive science and psychology research to explain the resistance to implementing AI in construction. 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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