Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Construction
-
November 15, 2024
Wash. Judge Says Junk Text Suit Must Lose Autodialer Claims
Consumers who were peppered with hundreds of unwanted text messages from a home improvement platform can move forward with their $400 million lawsuit accusing the company of ignoring the Do Not Call Registry, but will lose their autodialer claims, a Washington federal judge has ruled.
-
November 15, 2024
Political Fundraiser Avoids Jail In LA 'Casino Loyale' Probe
A former political fundraiser was sentenced by a California federal judge Friday to one year of home detention for facilitating a bribe to former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar, the latest in a string of recent sentences handed out to cooperating witnesses in the FBI's "Casino Loyale" probe.
-
November 15, 2024
Ga. Panel Says Homeowners Must Arbitrate Boundary Spat
The Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday ordered a property line spat between a construction company and a homeowner sent to arbitration, reversing a trial court's ruling that the issue fell outside the bounds of an arbitration provision within the original sale contract.
-
November 15, 2024
US Courts' Design Standards Increase Size, Costs, GAO Says
A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, publicly released Friday, has found that the judiciary's updated 2021 U.S. courts design guide would likely increase both the size and costs of federal courts.
-
November 15, 2024
Another Paul Hastings Int'l Arbitration Atty Joins Linklaters
Linklaters has added a senior counsel in Washington, D.C., who joins the firm's international arbitration practice from Paul Hastings LLP, weeks after that firm's international arbitration practice co-chair made a similar jump.
-
November 14, 2024
DC Circ. Doubts Standing In Challenge To Grid Project Perk
A D.C. Circuit panel expressed skepticism Thursday that a coalition of energy consumers have standing to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's grant of an abandonment incentive to the developer of an Iowa transmission project.
-
November 14, 2024
Texas Court Tosses Devon Energy Suit Over NM Rig Injuries
A Texas appeals panel on Thursday threw out a Louisiana worker's suit against Devon Energy Corp. over injuries he sustained while working at a New Mexico drilling rig, saying the trial court was wrong to find that the company had enough contact with Texas to be "at home" and under the court's jurisdiction.
-
November 14, 2024
Atlanta Developer Says City Dodging Discovery In Property Fight
An Atlanta landowner suing the city over its allegedly illegal condemnation of a disused fast food joint has asked a Georgia federal judge to keep the suit alive, telling the court the city can't win a recent summary judgment bid while discovery remains open.
-
November 14, 2024
Wash. Justices Grill Lowe's Attorney In Fallen Fencing Case
Washington State Supreme Court justices pushed back Thursday against a stance taken by Lowe's that a shopper injured by a fallen roll of wire fencing had presented inadequate evidence showing the accident could've been anticipated, with one justice remarking that the big box store seemed to "gloss over" key details in the case.
-
November 14, 2024
NY Contractor Cops To Aiding Theft In Commercial Bribe Case
A New York contractor pled guilty on Thursday in the Manhattan district attorney's commercial bribery case alleging dozens of construction industry defendants conspired to steal from developers in a sprawling kickback scheme involving $100 million in contracts.
-
November 13, 2024
Telecom Co. Lumen's Contract Breach Suit Survives, For Now
A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday ruled that an engineering consulting firm is liable to telecommunications company Lumen Technologies for damages caused by a subcontractor's faulty structural analysis, but said she couldn't yet rule on whether Florida law and a two-year statute of limitation barred Lumen's claims against the firm.
-
November 13, 2024
Detroit Fire Fee Ruling Concerns Mich. Justice
A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday said he was troubled by a lower appellate ruling he said seemed to imply that municipalities can work around a state law barring sneaky taxes, in this case by stating a charge for fire prevention services is really just the cost of a permit allowing property owners to do business in Detroit.
-
November 13, 2024
Claims Court Denies 'Creative' Bid For Losing Protester's Fees
A government contractor fronted by former Pittsburgh Steeler Rocky Bleier was "creative" in its request for attorney fees following its failed bid protest over a $14.7 million VA contract, but the U.S. Court of Federal Claims rejected the request in an order unsealed this week.
-
November 13, 2024
DOD Issues Strategy For Military Base Private 5G Networks
The U.S. Department of Defense released its strategy for deploying private 5G networks that are upgraded and specifically tailored for needs that can't be met by public commercial networks.
-
November 13, 2024
Highway Workers Reach Deal In Misclassification Row
Three construction firms have agreed to settle a False Claims Act suit after the U.S. Department of Labor agreed with an electrical workers union and a whistleblower that a subcontractor misclassified employees who worked on 25 federally funded highway projects in Pennsylvania.
-
November 13, 2024
$1.2M Excessive Hammering Spat Not Covered, Insurer Says
An insurer for a Nashville subcontractor told a Tennessee federal court that it doesn't owe coverage for an underlying $2.5 million lawsuit brought by residents surrounding a project site where the subcontractor was doing demolition work, arguing that the underlying suit falls under several exclusions.
-
November 13, 2024
Feds Want 2 Years' Jail For Biz Owner In $2.8M Tax Scheme
A construction company owner who paid workers off the books by pretending they were subcontractors, even after one of them died, should serve two years in prison and pay $2.8 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for the tax loss, prosecutors told a Massachusetts federal court.
-
November 12, 2024
Deloitte Must Face Certified Class Over Nuclear Audit Reports
A South Carolina federal judge on Tuesday certified a class of SCANA Corp. investors accusing Deloitte of issuing audit reports that misled them about the progress the utility company was making on a $9 billion nuclear energy expansion project that failed.
-
November 12, 2024
Trump Ally Bannon Seeks Delay Of 'We Build The Wall' Trial
Former Trump administration strategist Stephen Bannon on Tuesday sought to delay his criminal trial on New York state charges stemming from an alleged scheme to con donors seeking to fund a southern U.S. border wall, two weeks after he wrapped up his federal prison sentence for contempt of Congress.
-
November 12, 2024
Justices Won't Take On Tossed Bid-Rigging Conviction
The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to look at a Fourth Circuit decision that upended the bid-rigging conviction of a government contractor's former executive, rejecting U.S. Department of Justice concerns that the ruling could make it harder to prosecute when contractors have a subcontracting relationship.
-
November 08, 2024
Real Estate Recap: Trump, Big 4, Office Demand?
Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including how the next Trump administration could affect commercial real estate, where the Big Four brokers saw traction in Q3 and an interesting anomaly in the distressed office market.
-
November 08, 2024
1st Circ. Agrees No Coverage For Contractor In Defect Row
A First Circuit panel affirmed an insurer's win Friday, concluding that the carrier and excess insurers owed no coverage to a general contractor embroiled in underlying litigation regarding damage caused by a subcontractor's allegedly faulty work on a New Jersey project.
-
November 08, 2024
Monsanto Judge Pushes Sanction 'Distraction' To After Trial
A Washington state judge is pausing an order for eight of Monsanto's attorneys to personally pay a total of $20,000 for late disclosure of expert reports in a toxic tort lawsuit, saying he believes the issue will distract from the upcoming trial and the court can revisit the defense lawyers' reconsideration request after the jury returns a verdict.
-
November 08, 2024
Atlanta's 'Cop City' Nears Completion, Outrunning The Courts
A series of legal challenges and a protest movement that thrust Atlanta into the international spotlight appear unlikely to halt construction of the city's controversial public safety training center known as "Cop City," which is headed for completion in the coming months.
-
November 08, 2024
Ex-LA Pol's Aide Avoids Prison In 'Casino Loyale' Probe
A California federal judge appeared poised Friday to deliver a harsh sentence to a cooperating witness in the corruption probe of Los Angeles City Hall after repeatedly asking him why he coordinated bribes and lied to the FBI, but ultimately sentenced him to home detention as the government requested.
Expert Analysis
-
FERC Rule Is A Big Step Forward For Transmission Planning
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's recent electric transmission system overhaul marks significant progress to ensure the grid can deliver electricity at reasonable prices, with a 20-year planning requirement and other criteria going further than prior attempted reforms, say Tom Millar and Gwendolyn Hicks at Winston & Strawn.
-
Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
-
Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
-
In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
-
What Fla. Ruling Means For Insurer Managed Repair Programs
A recent Florida state court ruling in Fraga v. Citizens Property Insurance, holding that the insurer could not seek to add additional terms in its managed repair program consent form, should promote clear written contract terms that clarify the relationship between insurers, policyholders and contractors, says Chip Merlin at Merlin Law Group.
-
Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects
Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.
-
How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
-
Series
Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.
-
Opinion
Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
-
Justices' Bribery Ruling: A Corrupt Act Isn't Necessarily Illegal
In its Snyder v. U.S. decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a bribery law does not criminalize gratuities, continuing a trend of narrowing federal anti-corruption laws and scrutinizing public corruption prosecutions that go beyond obvious quid pro quo schemes, say Carrie Cohen and Christine Wong at MoFo.
-
3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
-
After Chevron
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 37 different rulemaking and litigation areas.
-
Series
After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking
The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.
-
Opinion
Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.
-
Contract Disputes Recap: Addressing Dispositive Motions
Stephanie Magnell and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions from the U.S. Court of Claims and the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals that provide interesting takeaways about the nuances of motion practice utilized by the government to dispose of cases brought under the Contract Disputes Act prior to substantive litigation