Citing Virginia's false advertising law, a federal judge has ordered IBCS, the big individual surety operated by Edmund G. Scarborough, to return a $138,000 bond premium to a contractor. The judge last month granted the motion for summary judgment against Charlottesville-based IBCS, Scarborough and former IBCS employee Steven Golia.Plaintiff American Demolition and Nuclear Decommissioning filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Charlottesville in December 2011. ADND stated that it was led to believe by IBCS marketing materials and assurances from Scarborough and Golia that the bonds provided by IBCS would be good enough to be accepted under Federal Acquisition
Related Links: Link to full ARCADIS-CEBR Global Built Asset Index Built assets in 30 countries generated $27.1 trillion in global income to the world's gross domestic product, according to a study released May 14, which says the nations studied make up 82% of global GDP.The research—which tracked income generated by buildings, infrastructure and other fixed assets—notes that the dollar total amounted to 40% of GDP, on average, in the countries studied, which are both developed and emerging economies.The Global Built Asset Performance Index was developed by Netherlands-based consulting company ARCADIS in partnership with the Centre for Economics and Business Research
Courtesy Southern Nevada Water Authority A view of the Lake Mead intake tunnel for which the owner held a builder's risk policy. Six re-insurers will pay out most of an additional $35 million under a claim by the Southern Nevada Water Authority on a builders’ risk policy covering damage suffered in 2010 and 2011 to a water tunnel project where flooding and fractured rock caused major delays, the water authority announced.“We don't typically purchase insurance policies for construction projects,” says Erika P. Moonin, the water authority’s engineering project manager for its $817-million third intake project at Lake Mead. “But this
Related Links: A Bold Individual Surety Claims His Bonds Are Rock Solid Big Insurance Broker Backpedals on Offer of Individual Surety The National Association of Surety Bond Producers, a trade association of surety brokers, is claiming a major victory in its campaign against surety fraud after Maryland lawmakers failed to renew a 2006 state law that partly opened the door to the use of individual surety on state projects. The lawmakers' inaction followed a state agency review that found the law produced no benefit in helping small contractors win work.The statute had been set to sunset once before, but state
Photo Courtesy of U.S. Senate Photo Studio and Office of Sen. Carl Levin Senate panel chair Levin wants to close "loophole" for tax transfers like Caterpillar's. Related Links: Senate investigations subcommittee report on Caterpillar overseas taxes Sen. Levin's prepared opening statement from April 1 hearing No one can say Sen. Carl Levin has gone after small fry in investigating U.S. companies' overseas tax policies. The Michigan Democrat has held a series of hearings focusing on Apple, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard and now has turned his attention to heavy-equipment giant Caterpillar Inc.The Senate Homeland Security Committee's permanent subcommittee on investigations, which Levin
Related Links: How Radisson Hotel Owners Stiffed the Subs in Wisconsin The subcontractors who worked on the Radisson hotel renovation project in Menomonee Falls, Wis., in 2010 and 2011 might soon receive their long-overdue payments. After the developer defaulted on its loans shortly after the hotel opened, the prospect of collecting anything was uncertain.The Menomonee Falls Village Board, which had loaned the developer millions, approved a settlement agreement on March 3 that would establish a $400,000 fund to pay subcontractors that have filed claims.The fate of the settlement was be discussed in Waukesha County circuit court on March 31 in
Related Links: Mounting Losses from Fake Chubb Bonds Is a contractor that has been caught submitting a fraudulent surety bond and being cheated out of the premium capable of obtaining surety credit from licensed brokers and Treasury-listed sureties? In at least one case, the answer is yes.A small general contractor in Colorado, Terravision Contracting Group, replaced the fraudulent bond it purchased for a small renovation project with one from a Treasury-listed surety, completed the project on time and under budget and moved on to bid for and win another project from the same owner. Another 21 contractors are known to
Past experience posted by Steven Golia summarizes his accomplishments at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and IBCS Group. Steven Golia, a leading promoter of controversial individual surety bonds, no longer works for national insurance-surety broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., the company confirms. Golia had become an employee in January after Gallagher acquired McIntyre Risk Management, a Cherry Hill, N.J. broker for whom he had apparently worked since late last year.Now based in Haddonfield, N.J., Golia had announced in an email newsletter after the acquisition that the new parent would be managing general agent for individual surety bonds from surety
About two out of three of the 14 leading providers of liability insurance to design professionals say they paid a claim of $1 million or more in 2013, and about one out of five report that their largest claim was between $10 million and $19 million.That was one of many facts and trends reported in the annual survey of most large professional liability insurers by Ames & Gough, the Washington, D.C.-based broker. The survey shows that 2013 was a second consecutive year of modest premium price gains by the insurers.According to the survey, rate increases on renewal of 2% to
A state court in Texas restored some order to U.S. contractors' general liability insurance, limiting insurers’ efforts to narrow what is considered an “occurrence” covered under a policy. Insurers have been trying to eliminate coverage for defects in the contractor’s own work.The issue has come up in several states in recent years, and state legislatures have stepped in several times to restore coverage through laws.The current case originated in Texas and was widely watched as a bellwether.In an opinion issued January 17, Judge Phil Johnson of the Texas Supreme Court ruled that general contractors don’t “assume liability” for damages arising