California contractors who violate prevailing wage laws do so at their peril. A recent case, Ogundare v. Department of Industrial Relations (2013) 214 Cal.App.4th 822, held that a one year debarment from bidding on public projects did not implicate a “fundamental vested right.” Consequently, trial court review of a Division…
What if you get sued for property damage that occurred progressively over the course of two years, and you had separate GL policies for each year? Do you get the benefit of coverage for both years, or just the first year? Well, if you’re in New Jersey, you get coverage…
The Florida Supreme Court gave insureds a Fourth of July present one day early — July 3 — by ruling that property policies providing replacement cost coverage include the cost of a contractor’s overhead and profit, even if the insured does not actually pay a contractor overhead and profit to…
A recent California case, Ahdout v. Hekmatjah (2013) 213 Cal.App.4th 21, held that an arbitrator’s refusal to apply California’s disgorgement remedy against an unlicensed contractor was subject to judicial review even if the underlying agreement was not entirely void. Two adjacent landowners formed a limited liability company to develop condominiums…
A few weeks ago I posted about an Eighth Circuit case that once again illustrated how, despite the drafter’s precision carrying the day most of the time, sometimes a litigator’s creativity can trump it. Well, it’s happened again. And again the issue is whether a dispute between and insured and…
I occasionally give a presentation called “That’s not what I meant!” which is subtitled “Usually the drafter’s precision carries the day, but sometimes the litigator’s creativity trumps it.” Our legal system generates seemingly endless material for this presentation and last week the Eighth Circuit gave us more in Union Electric…
The Second Circuit’s recent decision in Scottsdale Insurance Company v. R.I. Pools, Inc., Case No. 11-3529, 2013 WL 1150217 (2d Cir. March 21, 2013) should be welcome news for Connecticut contractors insured under CGL policies with Broad Form Property Damage Coverage, seeking coverage for losses to their work caused by…
An insured’s duty to cooperate with its insurer in the investigation and potential payment of claims is essential to the insurance relationship and is often a condition precedent to coverage. As the Supreme Court for the State of Washington recently affirmed, however, an insurer’s ability to deny coverage based on…
On December 7, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its first decision determining that government contractors need to challenge any obvious errors, improprieties, or ambiguities on the face of a solicitation amendment before award (extending its previous rule that such challenges to the initial solicitation…
Illinois and California appellate courts recently issued two policy-holder favorable decisions. In both cases, the trial court had granted summary judgment in favor of the insurance company and denying coverage, and in both cases the trial court decisions were reversed. In the Illinois case, Patrick Engineering, Inc. v. Old Republic…