ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Underlying Complaint Alleges Possibility of Coverage, Triggering Duty to Defend

September 15, 2026 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
In a dispute among insurers for various defendants in the underlying case regarding the providing of a defense, the Second Circuit vacated, in part, the district court’s judgment and remanded the case. New Your Marine and Gen. Ins. Co. v. Fed. Ins. Co., 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 18087 (2nd Cir. June 23, 2026). Mary Guzman, who worked for a cleaning company, PBM, LLC, alleged that she was injured when a glass panel in a revolving door fell onto her as she cleaned the door. She filed suit in state court against the owners of the building as well as the lessee of the fifteenth floor where the accident occurred, Bank of New York Mellon (Bank). She alleged the owners and the Bank were negligent in creating the dangerous condition that caused her injury. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

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GRSM Secures Illinois Appellate Victory for Architectural Firm in Implied Warranty Dispute

May 14, 2026 — Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Partner Jonathan Federman, Partner Thomas Cronin, and Senior Counsel Garrett Lee recently secured a victory in the Illinois Appellate Court, Fifth District, on behalf of the firm’s client, an architectural firm, in a liability dispute. The case arose following an entity’s purchase of a 111-unit building for use as an investment or rental property. The plaintiff made claims against the architect of the building, alleging that there were design defects that breached an implied warranty, as well as a negligence claim. GRSM argued that an architect could not be liable for implied warranties, particularly for an implied warranty which no Illinois court has ever recognized. GRSM further argued that Illinois law bars an architect from liability for negligence arising from a duty pursuant to contract under the economic loss doctrine. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

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Prefatory Contract Language Cannot Be Used to Create an Ambiguity with Operative Provisions

May 12, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
Contract drafting and interpretation matters. A case dealt with the potential conflict with prefatory language in an agreement compared with operative provisions in the agreement. The trial court held that the operative provisions control. I discussed this case here where the appellate court reversed based on the prefatory language. But, through a motion for rehearing, the appellate court reconsidered its position and affirmed the trial court based on the operative provisions, mainly that the prefatory language cannot be used to create an ambiguity with operative provisions. Consider this explanation in affirming the trial court:

Because the trial court correctly found that the initial language in the contract was prefatory and could not be used to create an ambiguity in the remainder of the contract, we affirm the final judgment.

Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

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Insured General Contractor Prevails on Motion for Summary Judgment to Establish Builder’s Risk Coverage

July 06, 2026 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The general contractor’s motion for partial summary judgment successfully established that damage to footings in place before the policy period was covered after the collapse of a building. Big D Builders, Inc. v. Am Zurich Ins. Co., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72012 (D. Idaho March 31, 2026). Big D was the general contractor for building a new airplane hangar by erecting a 38,000 square foot structure. Before Big D began construction, the site of the hangar did not contain any pre-existing structures or buildings. Before completion of the hangar, it collapsed and caused extensive property damage. The builder’s risk policy issued by Zurich covered certain aspects of the construction project for the policy period December 28, 2023, to December 28, 2024. Zurich accepted coverage for most of the damage but not for damage to footings and columns installed prior to the start date of the policy. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

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How AI Turns Construction Documents Into Procurement Intelligence

May 05, 2026 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
MEP equipment accounts for up to 40% of costs on data center or hospital projects, has lead times ranging from 20 weeks to over a year, and has historically been the most underserved area in construction software. In this episode, I speak with Victor Muchiri from BuildVision about what it actually takes to make AI useful in construction procurement, not as a pilot, but in production. We dig into why you cannot simply upload a set of construction drawings to ChatGPT and trust the output. Construction documents are complex, cross-referenced, and consequential. Without deep domain context, such as manufacturer ontologies, equipment taxonomies, and engineering expertise, AI produces plausible results, not reliable ones. BuildVision’s approach is to act as a harness around AI models, wrapping them in construction-specific knowledge so the output can be trusted for real procurement decisions. 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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Court Rules Insurer AIG Can't Claw Back $50M Storm Payout From Turner

October 20, 2026 — Richard Korman - Engineering News-Record
A Delaware court judge ruled earlier this month that insurer AIG cannot claw back $50 million from Turner Construction for two insurance claim payouts it has made to New York University's Langone Medical Center. The dispute relates to the 2012 flooding of the university's Manhattan hospital center during Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Richard Korman, Engineering News-Record
Mr. Korman may be contacted at kormanr@enr.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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Fight for Your Right: Effects of FAR Final Rule on Construction

October 12, 2026 — Michael Altman - Construction Executive
Since the Federal Acquisition Regulation final rule Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects took effect, contractors seeking to compete for federal projects of $35 million or more must “negotiate or become a party to a project labor agreement with one or more labor organizations.” While this requirement significantly reduces competition for covered procurements, contractors may seek to restore competition on individual solicitations by filing a bid protest with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Bid protests through the COFC become possible once a federal agency posts a solicitation that includes contract provisions mandating a PLA. (In some cases, a presolicitation notice that a PLA mandate will be applied may be sufficient.) Reprinted courtesy of Michael Altman, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the full story...
Mr. Altman may be contacted at altman@abc.org

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