Anaheim California Construction Expert Witness Directory

Toolbox Talk Series: GenAI Document Review

January 06, 2026 — Brendan J. Witry - The Dispute Resolver
This month's installment of the Toolbox Talk Series explored the use of Generative AI in document review, which as construction lawyers know can be voluminous. Jack Bandlow and Travis Olson from BRG provided an overview of how lawyers can use GenAI to make document review in construction litigation more efficient. Like other uses of GenAI, it is a tool that is not designed to replace lawyers. Rather it helps eliminate or reduce mundane or tedious tasks that are not the highest and best use of a lawyer's time. The AI-powered document review platforms are designed to recognize patterns in documents and transforms words and text into "vectors" to group concepts with similar meanings. For example, whereas a traditional keyword search for "weather delay" will only return hits on that keyword, a search utilizing vectoring will also search for conceptually similar terms, even if the keyword does not match. These tools can use natural language searches to return results that a responsive to the prompt. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Brendan J. Witry, Laurie & Brennan LLP
Mr. Witry may be contacted at bwitry@lauriebrennan.com

When Your Scheduler Hallucinates: Managing AI Risk on the Job Site

March 03, 2026 — Jason Loring - ConsensusDocs
Artificial intelligence has moved from the conference room to the construction site. Contractors are using AI-powered tools to predict schedule delays, monitor safety through drone footage, optimize equipment maintenance and flag potential hazards in real time. These tools deliver genuine efficiency gains, but they also introduce risks that most construction contracts do not anticipate and many project teams aren’t yet equipped to manage. The problem is that AI tools are probabilistic and not determinative, meaning that they can “hallucinate”: generating confident, but completely wrong, information. Your AI scheduling software might therefore predict a delay that never materializes, causing unnecessary resource mobilization. Your drone monitoring might flag a nonexistent safety hazard, stopping work and costing productivity. Or worse, it might miss a real hazard entirely. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jason Loring, Jones Walker LLP
Mr. Loring may be contacted at jloring@joneswalker.com

Traub Lieberman Attorneys Recognized in Hudson Valley Magazine’s 2026 Top Lawyers List

March 24, 2026 — Copernicus T. Gaza, Jonathan R. Harwood, Lisa M. Rolle, Lisa L. Shrewsberry, Christopher Russo & Hillary J. Raimondi - Traub Lieberman
Traub Lieberman is pleased to announce that six Partners from the White Plains, NY office have been included in the 2026 edition of the Hudson Valley Magazine’s Top Lawyers in the Hudson Valley list. This annual guide recognizes more than 270 of the region's leading attorneys. Insurance:

Copernicus Gaza
Jonathan Harwood
Lisa Rolle
Lisa Shrewsberry

Reprinted courtesy of Copernicus T. Gaza, Traub Lieberman, Jonathan R. Harwood, Traub Lieberman, Lisa M. Rolle, Traub Lieberman, Lisa L. Shrewsberry, Traub Lieberman, Christopher Russo, Traub Lieberman and Hillary J. Raimondi, Traub Lieberman Mr. Gaza may be contacted at cgaza@tlsslaw.com Mr. Harwood may be contacted at jharwood@tlsslaw.com Ms. Rolle may be contacted at lrolle@tlsslaw.com Ms. Shrewsberry may be contacted at lshrewsberry@tlsslaw.com Mr. Russo may be contacted at crusso@tlsslaw.com Ms. Raimondi may be contacted at hraimondi@tlsslaw.com Read the full story...

Fraud Allegations Stymie Additional Insured’s Request for a Defense

May 14, 2026 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The Federal District Court granted the insurer’s motion to dismiss the insured’s complaint seeking a defense of the underlying case alleging fraud. Renovation Realty, Inc. v. Colony Ins. Co., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21409 (S.D. Cal. Jan. 30, 2026). Mara Fortin sued Renovation Realty and others (“Fortin litigation”) from the fraudulent sale of a residence. The underlying complaint alleged Renovation “deliberately misrepresented of the residence as ‘completely remodeled’ and ‘meticulously maintained’.” The defendants, however, including Renovation, “knew from sources including a pre-renovation termite report documenting fungus and dry rot . . . that the Property harbored pre-existing material defects.” Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Massachusetts Nuclear Verdict Leads To $90M Bad Faith Award

February 10, 2026 — Eric B. Hermanson & Timothy J. Langan - White and Williams
Insurers in Massachusetts have long struggled with the demands of MGL ch. G.L.c 176D, § 3(9)(f), which requires “prompt, fair and equitable settlements of claims in which liability has become reasonably clear.” Last month a Superior Court ruling illustrated the potentially draconian consequences of a violation: finding an insurer liable for more than $90 million in bad faith damages, in a case that might have settled under $3 million with proper handling. The claimant, John Rooney, was a mason who fell off a scaffold at a construction site. He sued the general contractor. The general contractor, in turn, sought coverage as an additional insured under a series of Liberty Mutual policies issued to Rooney’s employer – the masonry company – with combined aggregate limits of $19.5 million. Reprinted courtesy of Eric B. Hermanson, White and Williams and Timothy J. Langan, White and Williams Mr. Hermanson may be contacted at hermansone@whiteandwilliams.com Mr. Langan may be contacted at langant@whiteandwilliams.com Read the full story...

Government Claiming Contract Is Void Ab Initio by Contractor Knowingly Making False Statements

January 06, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
Can the federal government declare a contract “void ab initio” or void from the beginning? Yes, if the government can “prove that the contractor (a) obtained the contract by (b) knowingly (c) making a false statement.” MLB Transportation v. U.S., 2025 WL 2962897, *8 (Fed.Cl. 2025) (citation omitted).

Where a contractor “obtained [a] contract by knowingly falsely stating that it was a small business … [the] government contract [is] tainted from its inception by fraud [and] is void ab initio.” The general rule that “a Government contract tainted by fraud or wrong-doing is void ab initio … protects the integrity of the federal contracting process and safeguards the public from undetectable threats to the public fisc.” A contract found to be void ab initio has “no legal effect,” and is “[n]ull from the beginning, as from the first moment when a contract is entered into.”

MLB Transportation, supra (citations omitted).

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

Seventh Circuit Finds “Additional Insured” Requirements Met Where Non-Party Subcontractor Was Proximate Cause of Underlying Injuries

February 23, 2026 — Jason Taylor - Traub Lieberman Insurance Law Blog
In Atlanta Gas Light Company et al v. Navigators Ins. Co., Nos. 24-2888 & 24-2889 (7th Cir. Jan. 22, 2026), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals assessed whether an upstream contractor was an “additional insured” under an umbrella policy issued to its subcontractor. Atlanta Gas and Southern Company Gas (“AGL”) hired United States Infrastructure Corporation (“USIC”) to locate and mark gas lines that AGL owned throughout Georgia. In 2018, USIC failed to mark a gas line in Homerville, Georgia, and a boring company struck it, leading to an explosion that severely injured three women. The victims settled their claims with USIC but did not come to terms with AGL. AGL eventually did settle with the victims, but only after they sued AGL in Georgia state court (the “Underlying Suits”). AGL’s service agreement with USIC required USIC to obtain primary and excess liability insurance coverage that included AGL as an additional insured. Because USIC’s settlement with the victims exhausted its primary policy, AGL tendered the defense and indemnification of the Underlying Suits to USIC’s excess insurer, Navigators. Navigators denied the request on the ground that AGL was not an “additional insured” under the policy. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jason Taylor, Traub Lieberman
Mr. Taylor may be contacted at jtaylor@tlsslaw.com

Georgia HB 676: A Bill Property Owners and Contractors Should Watch

March 24, 2026 — Robert Lafayette - The Construction Seyt
Property owners, contractors, and others dealing with mechanics and materialmen’s liens in Georgia should keep an eye on HB 676, which is currently making its way through the Georgia General Assembly. The bill aims to curb misuse of the lien process and provide additional remedies to those challenging a frivolous lien filing. What HB 676 Would Do HB 676 would add a new Code section (O.C.G.A. § 44-14-366.6) to the mechanics and materialmen’s lien statutes. If a lien is filed “without substantial justification or that is not made in good faith or that is made with malice or a wrongful purpose,” this new Code section would impose a fine of $1,500 per lien on the lien claimant, in addition to any attorney’s fees or court costs incurred by the party challenging the lien. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Robert Lafayette, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Mr. Lafayette may be contacted at rlafayette@seyfarth.com

ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES