To Settle or Not Settle: Factors to Weigh and Practical Considerations
January 13, 2026 —
Gerard J. Onorata - ConsensusDocsDeciding to settle a construction dispute is often wrought with difficulty, requiring the decision maker to evaluate a number of factors. Nevertheless, there are no hard and fast rules that apply when advising a party whether or not they should settle a dispute. Yet the vast majority of construction disputes do settle before going to trial or arbitration. In fact, recent statistics show that approximately 95% of all civil cases, including construction disputes, settle before trial[1]. However, whether settlement is always the best choice depends on several factors to be discussed here.
Merits of Your Case
First and foremost are the merits of your claims and defenses against any claims that are asserted against you. Construction disputes are inherently fact sensitive, and the merits of a case are driven by the facts of the dispute. Simple breach of contract actions for balances of unpaid funds for the work and materials that have been provided and installed on a project make weighing the merits of the affirmative claim relatively simple. However, these types of “collection cases” stand in stark contrast to complex construction delay claims for equitable adjustment where there exist competing and numerous causes of the delays. In addition, there are complicated legal principles applicable to whether there is entitlement to compensation for the delay or simply an extension of time. Construction defect claims where technical engineering issues are involved also present a heightened level of complexity that may make such cases difficult to prove on the merits.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Gerard J. Onorata, Peckar & Abramson, P.C.Mr. Onorata may be contacted at
gonorata@pecklaw.com
Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (3/18/25) – Data Center Frenzy, China’s Expanding REIT Market and Tariff-Affected Construction Costs
March 31, 2026 —
Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogIn our latest roundup, relistings reached highest total in a decade, Florida State Legislature passes bill to increase the state’s housing supply, data center construction adapts to changes and more!
- The data center construction frenzy and a new, potentially larger highway bill were top of mind for builders during the latest round of contractor earnings calls and financial reports. (Joe Bousquin, Construction Dive)
- Tariffs and associated policy uncertainty have increased construction costs and delayed leasing and investment choices. (J.P. Morgan)
- Relistings hit the highest January figure since Redfin began tracking this metric a decade ago. (Diana Olick, CNBC).
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team
Four Families Now Live in the Season Six Rock the Block Homes in Grantsville, Utah
April 20, 2026 —
Hamlet HomesSALT LAKE CITY, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The premier of Rock the Block season seven aired last Monday and is set in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rock The Block is HGTV's highest rated show. Last year, season six was set in Utah and had HGTV's highest rating yet, with over 14 million viewers. All episodes of season six were filmed in the Worthington Ranch community in Grantsville, Utah. The four homes on the show were built by Utah builder Hamlet Homes. During the show, the location of the four Rock The Block homes had to be kept secret and were surrounded by a locked gate. After over a year of being inaccessible, the Utah public was invited in May 2025 to tour the homes and help raise money together for charity. On May 30-31, 2025, Hamlet hosted a 'Rock The Block Party' where the public was able to walk through the homes made famous by the show.
Hamlet Owner, VP of Marketing & Design Tami Ostmark shares stories from the show and her perspective of what it's like to be the builder on a national show like this. Ostmark was on set almost the entire time. "As expected, there were times when there was tension on the set. All four designers were super competitive with each other. It's amazing that the production team was able to produce the show as well as they did. I'm very impressed," said Ostmark.
Another interesting point related to the show is how much work the local builder is responsible for. Some nights as many as 30 Hamlet team members worked through the night to keep up with the pace of production. "Each designer provided their own trusted carpenters to do finishing work. In two of the cases, designers' flew their favorite carpenters in to carry out their visions. Given the quick turnaround, it's not always practical for finishing work to be permanent. Sometimes, it just needs to look appealing on camera," said Ostmark. This is frequently referred to as 'TV Magic'. "When the show was over, Hamlet re-did any areas that required extra attention". The show really does shoot in only 7 weeks as depicted. This creates a fast pace that was very exciting to be a part of", continued Ostmark. All four of the homes featured on the show have since been purchased; four Utah families currently call them home.
ABOUT HAMLET HOMES
Hamlet Homes (www.hamlethomes.com) crafts quality customer-oriented townhomes and single-family homes located in attractively designed communities in Utah and Idaho. Since the company's founding in 1995, Hamlet has built over 5,000 homes in 80 communities. The company is a proud recipient of many awards on Sustainable Business & Design, Quality Builder Awards; recognized both locally and nationally. Named by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce as the 'Veteran Owned Small Business of the Year, in 2019'. Hamlet has since been named several times to the Professional Builder's Housing Giants List and annual HOME AWARDS Best Customer Experience. Most recently in 2026, Hamlet was named Utah's 'Best of State for Real Estate Development and Utah Businesses 'Best Companies to Work For' for the 6th consecutive year.
Structuring Water Resilience for Data Center Development: Water Rights, Reuse Incentives, and Emerging Disclosure Risk
March 10, 2026 —
Ashleigh Myers, Jillian Marullo & Jason Drogin Atwood - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogAs AI-driven data center development accelerates, developers, communities and regulators are increasingly focused on water demand—both the volume required and the sources from which that water will be drawn. While industry attention has largely centered on electricity procurement and grid impacts, the availability and legal entitlement to a firm water supply has become equally material to siting, permitting and community acceptance. Particularly as surface and groundwater supplies become increasingly constrained and new projects are sited in regions experiencing tighter hydrologic conditions or growth-related supply constraints, project teams are increasingly integrating water supply analysis into early-stage development to address issues that can materially affect schedule, financing and long-term operations.
Reprinted courtesy of
Ashleigh Myers, Pillsbury,
Jillian Marullo, Pillsbury and
Jason Drogin Atwood, Pillsbury
Ms. Myers may be contacted at ashleigh.myers@pillsburylaw.com
Ms. Marullo may be contacted at jillian.marullo@pillsburylaw.com
Mr. Atwood may be contacted at jason.atwood@pillsburylaw.com
Read the full story...
SDNY Ruling Highlights Privilege Risks in Client Use of Generative AI
March 03, 2026 —
Christopher J. Olsen, Freddy X. Muñoz & Gary M. Stein - Peckar & Abramson, P.C.Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a go‑to tool for aggregating and summarizing large volumes of data, formulating and testing arguments, and even sketching litigation strategies. But a recent ruling from the Southern District of New York serves as a stark warning: when clients turn to generative AI for legal strategy, they may be unknowingly turning privileged information over to a third party and then creating documents that may later be discoverable in litigation. In a closely watched bench decision, Judge Rakoff ruled that AI‑generated documents created by the target of a criminal investigation using Anthropic’s Claude were not privileged despite being generated with information learned from his attorneys to support his potential legal defense and then shared with his counsel. The decision highlights the unresolved and increasingly consequential intersection of AI, privilege, and discovery.
Facts
Bradley Heppner received a grand jury subpoena and hired attorneys at Quinn Emanuel to represent him. After learning he was a target of the investigation, but before he was arrested, he created 31 documents with Claude using information from his attorneys to outline a potential defense strategy. He was later arrested on charges of securities and wire fraud, and federal agents seized his electronic devices, which contained the 31 documents that had been provided to his attorneys. Mr. Heppner argued that the documents were created to prepare his potential defense strategy in anticipation of an indictment, but he conceded that he made the decision to prepare the reports on his own, i.e., not at the direction of counsel. He nevertheless claimed the documents were protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; the government moved to overrule the objections.
Reprinted courtesy of
Christopher J. Olsen, Peckar & Abramson, P.C.,
Freddy X. Muñoz, Peckar & Abramson, P.C. and
Gary M. Stein, Peckar & Abramson, P.C.
Mr. Olsen may be contacted at colsen@pecklaw.com
Mr. Muñoz may be contacted at fmunoz@pecklaw.com
Mr. Stein may be contacted at gstein@pecklaw.com
Read the full story...
Course of Conduct Can Serve as Waiver or Modification of Parties’ Contract
December 22, 2025 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesWhen you enter into a contract, the language in the contract means something. And if you don’t follow what the contract says, it will be used against you. It can be used to support the argument that you breached the contract. Or it can be used to demonstrate your lack of compliance with the contract does not entitle you to the recourse you are seeking. However, this does not mean under certain circumstances the language of the contract cannot be waived or modified by the parties’ course of conduct.
In a recent dispute, an owner and contractor sued each other under a cost-plus contract. The contractor recorded a construction lien and moved to foreclose its construction lien. The owner claimed it was over-charged and claimed the contractor breached the contract. The contractor also claimed it was not timely paid with improperly withheld payment applications. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the contractor, which was affirmed on appeal based on the parties’ course of dealing:
The trial court concluded that, although the parties’ cost-plus contract required that all change orders be approved in writing, the summary judgment record established that this provision was routinely waived by the parties’ course of dealing: [owner] would orally request changes to the project; [contractor] would perform those changes; and [owner] would pay the invoices for those changes.
Moscato Corp. v. Mutchnik Construction Group, Inc., 411 So.3d 570 (Fla. 3d DCA 2025)
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
David Adelstein, Kirwin NorrisMr. Adelstein may be contacted at
dma@kirwinnorris.com
Navigating Turbulent Waters Ashore: Insurance Lessons from a Navy Project Dispute
February 02, 2026 —
Cary D. Steklof & Torrye Zullo - Hunton Insurance Recovery BlogAs we ring in the New Year, one thing remains the same: understanding the definitions and conditions in your insurance policy is critical. In a recent decision, a Florida federal court in
Ohio Security Insurance Co. v. E Kelly Enterprises Inc. et al., No. 3:22-cv-24754, held that an insurer had no duty to defend or indemnify a general contractor and no duty to indemnify a subcontractor for damages from defective work on a naval base, based on the policy’s definition of “suit,” “property damage,” and allocation requirements. The decision highlights the importance of numerous issues in the context of commercial general liability policies, including the nuances of policy definitions, obtaining insurer consent when necessary, and allocation between covered and uncovered claims.
Background
In October 2014, a general contractor (“GC”) was awarded a contract by the Navy to renovate buildings at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola. The GC subcontracted work to various subcontractors, including metal framing and drywall, to a subcontractor named EKE.
Reprinted courtesy of
Cary D. Steklof, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and
Torrye Zullo, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Mr. Steklof may be contacted at csteklof@hunton.com
Ms. Zullo may be contacted at tzullo@hunton.com
Read the full story...
The AVOID Act: A New Timeline for Liability in New York Construction Projects
February 23, 2026 —
Meghan Douris - The Construction SeytBy April 18, 2026, New York construction litigation will operate on a faster—and far less forgiving—timeline. The Avoiding Vexatious Overuse of Impleading to Delay (the “AVOID Act”), signed into law on December 19, 2025, fundamentally rewrites third‑party practice under CPLR § 1007 by imposing strict deadlines to bring subcontractors, suppliers, and other responsible parties into a case.
For owners, developers, general contractors, and their in‑house counsel, this change will shift risk assessment, contract enforcement, and litigation strategy to the very front end of a claim—particularly in New York Labor Law and construction defect cases.
What Changed—and Why It Matters to Construction Cases
Historically, New York defendants could implead subcontractors and other players well into discovery. The AVOID Act ends that practice.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Meghan Douris, Seyfarth Shaw LLPMs. Douris may be contacted at
mdouris@seyfarth.com
