Related Links: American Subcontractors Association's Supreme Court Brief PDF Atlantic Marine Construction's Reply Brief PDF There are no direct flights and 1,505 miles between Killeen, Texas, and Virginia Beach, Va., the base cities of J-Crew Management Inc. and Atlantic Marine Construction Inc., respectively. J-Crew says Atlantic Marine owes it $160,000 for work it performed as a subcontractor on a $7.4-million child development center in 2011 at Fort Hood, near Killeen. Instead of suing in Virginia, which its contract requires, J-Crew sued in federal court near the U.S. Army base. A federal appeals-court judge in Austin upheld J-Crew's right to sue
Related Links: Press release from office of U.S. Attorney for D.C. A former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official has pled guilty to a federal charge that over more than a decade, he carried out a scheme to cheat the government of almost $900,000 in salary and benefits that he was not entitled to, the Dept. of Justice said.John C. Beale, 64, who worked for EPA from 1989 until last April 30 in the agency’s Office of Air and Radiation, entered a guilty plea to a charge of theft of federal property on Sept. 27 in U.S. District Court for the
Photo Courtesy of N.J. Governor's Office The section of the boardwalk that was destroyed in the blaze had only recently been rebuilt after Sandy destroyed it 11 months ago. Related Links: Moving Beyond the Storm Ocean County, N.J., investigators say that faulty electrical wiring caused the wind-swept fire that destroyed more than 50 businesses along the Jersey Shore's iconic boardwalk on Sept. 12. Corrosive saltwater and sand from Superstorm Sandy, which destroyed the same boardwalk 11 months ago, "defected" the wiring, which was in a "totally inaccessible" area of the boardwalk, investigators note.Joseph D. Coronato, Ocean County prosecutor, announced the
image by Bill Hughes Harmon Hotel's owner has yet to say what will replace the soon-to-be-demolished structure as a building-defects trial looms in early 2014. Related Links: Dueling Las Vegas Hotel Engineering Reports Cloud Conflict Between Perini and MGM Report Finds Las Vegas Hotel Could Potentially Collapse in a Code-Level Earthquake Two upcoming hot tickets in Las Vegas both will feature the Harmon Hotel—once the planned showstopper of the huge CityCenter development, but now unfinished and never opened.The $279-million hotel soon faces court-approved demolition and also is the subject of a construction-defect trial set for next February that pits co-owner
Denver Hospital Complaint Exhibit Handwritten note cited by Kiewit-Turner as Exhibit A. Courtesy of Kiewit-Turner Multi-building complex may come in at a cost close to $1 billion, says the construction joint venture. To measure how far apart the Kiewit-Turner joint venture is from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) on the final cost of completing a new veterans hospital in Aurora, Colo., you can start with their differing views of “the note.”The note is a handwritten agreement completed in November 2011. In it, both the contracting venture and the department pledge to devote resources to keep the project cost to
Related Links: Georgia Slapped by Court in Tristate Water Dispute 11th Circuit Appeals Court 2011 Opinion In the latest salvo in a decades-long dispute, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) says his state in September will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to force Georgia to share some of the water from the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint (ACF) river basins.According to a statement issued by Scott, the collapse of discussions, in 2003, among Alabama, Florida and Georgia "left Florida and Alabama in the same disadvantaged position" just as Georgia was able to stake more claims to the waters.The Apalachicola's water levels are
Related Links: Source of Forged Surety Bonds Remains Mysterious A Bold Individual Surety Claims His Coal-Backed Bonds are Rock Solid Contractors John Melching Jr. and Dallas Collins are based in Pennsylvania and Texas, respectively, and have never met, but they have something in common: They claim they have been cheated in the past year by a business transaction that involved Larry Polec, a Chicago-based surety-bond broker.Polec is easy to spot. He is a former Michigan State basketball player who stands 6 ft, 8 in. Less easy to spot, however, are his roles in and links to an informal network of
Related Links: Supreme Court Decision in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District Supreme Court Order Granting Certiorari in NLRB and EPA cases The U.S. Supreme Court handed down the last decisions of its October 2012 term on June 26, issuing rulings in closely watched affirmative-action and same-sex-marriage cases. But perhaps more significant for the construction and engineering industry are the cases the court agreed to hear in its next term.The first, National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, could have significant ramifications in the way presidential recess appointments are made.The second, Environmental Protection Agency v. EME Homer City
Courtesy California Expo Rail Authority Concrete is placed on a bridge deck last month for the light rail line expansion to Santa Monica. A Los Angeles light rail line being expanded by Skanska USA faces a court challenge that could shut down work.The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hand down a decision by Aug.7 in a challenge by local residents to Phase II of the Los Angeles Exposition Rail line, now under construction through the city’s west side and due to start operating in 2015.The main issue is whether a construction authority has the discretion to use existing or
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