If you’re blaming all the contractor and subcontractor defaults lately on the recession and how thin times lead to management mistakes, such as chasing unprofitable work, here’s yet another concern. Business in some sectors is picking up enough or may pick up soon and could create perils from recovery risk.Contractors face recovery risk on the back end of a recession when they take on too much work after they’ve depleted their staff and cash resources during hard times and don’t have enough resources to finish projects. It’s a little bit like a starving man suddenly finding too much food and
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge by Jacobs Engineering Group to Minnesota's attempt to collect millions of dollars from the company to fund payouts made to victims of the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Jacobs Engineering Group v. Minnesota was among more than 150 cases that, on May 29, the court said it would not hear. The court gave no reasons for denying the requests.The bridge was designed in the 1960s by Sverdrup & Parcel & Associates, which Jacobs acquired in 1999. The span's collapse killed 13 and injured 145.The Associated General Contractors and other
Courtesy of U.S. Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court may review Jacobs v. Minnesota. Related Links: Jacobs' petition to the U.S. Supreme Court (via Scotusblog.com) Friend of the court brief filed by AGC, ACEC, ASCE, CIRT (via Scotusblog.com) The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge by Jacobs Engineering Group to Minnesota’s attempt to collect millions of dollars from the company to fund payouts made to victims of the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.The case, Jacobs Engineering Group v. Minnesota, was one of more than 150 on the high court's May 29 "order list" that it decided
Courtesy of the University of California at Santa Barbara Ocean Sciences building is running late, says the University of California at Santa Barbara. Related Links: Melchiori Terminated from University of California, Santa Barbara, Project as General Contractor The University of California at Santa Barbara last month terminated Melchiori Construction Co., a firm that says it was the area's biggest general contractor and construction manager, from a $6.5-million building project.Because the project, started in March 2010, remains unfinished and "the contractor is many months behind schedule," the university state that it has also "made demand" of Western Surety Co., a Woodland
istockphoto Can combined general contractor-subcontractor default insurance fill a need? Related Links: XL Website XL Announces CapAssure XL Insurance is seeking its first customer for a new product, introduced in March, that combines contractor and subcontractor default insurance for private construction projects.Called CapAssure, the subcontractor default insurance part will work the same way as Subguard, the product launched 16 years ago by insurer Zurich North America that currently has virtually all of the subcontractor default insurance market.Subguard is used to cover about $35 billion worth of subcontracting work each year, according to Nils Sorenson, Zurich's Subguard product manager.CapAssure, in contrast,
Richard Korman for ENR Styles says that Congress has been pressing for rules that would trigger automatic debarment of contractors under suspicion of fraud. Related Links: U.S. Air Force's Steve Shaw on Ethics Is it possible for a federal agency to debar or suspend a contractor that has defaulted on one contract or been terminated for convenience? That was one of the questions put to Angela B. Styles, head of the government contracts group at the legal practice of Crowell & Moring, at a meeting May 2 of the Construction Industry Ethics and Compliance Initiative in Washington, D.C. The answer was provocative,
A Georgia-based prime contractor with offices in Alabama has defaulted and requested help from its surety for projects in Newnan, Ga., and Shelby County, Ala. Photo from www.newnancentre.com D. Dean & Associates helped celebrate the groundbreaking of the Newnan Convention Center project in Newnan, Ga. Now, the company has apparently defaulted on its work at the project. Related Links: Alabama Contractor Cries Foul After Termination by DOT More ENR Finance News Stories Columbus, Ga.-based D. Dean & Associates Inc. also had an office in Birmingham. Founder and President Danny Dean could not be reached for comment, but his company has
Newnan Convention Centre Authority Photo from the website of the Newnan Convention Center, which is under construction. Related Links: Takeover Agreement Between Ohio Casualty and Alabama Schools Newnan Centre subcontractors getting paid through bonding firms account A mid-size building prime contractor in Georgia and Alabama has defaulted and requested help from its surety.Columbus, Ga.-based D. Dean & Associates Inc. also had an office in Birmingham. Founder and President Danny Dean could not be reached for comment, but his company has apparently run into financial problems.According to a version of a takeover agreement with the Alabama Public School Authority, the Shelby
There’s no such thing any more as just grabbing a sandwich, sipping some wine or smacking some golf balls—at least not with a state official or employee.Even if you split the check, dining with a government client or potential client runs the risk of falling within prohibited forms of procurement or goodwill lobbying—comparatively new terms in the regulatory language. Anything that could be construed as influencing content in a request for proposals (RFP), the contract selection process or even a future legislative appropriations vote.These were among the cautions outlined by James A. Kahl, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who specializes in
PHOTO BY RICHARD KORMAN Maria Leo (right), mother of crane operator Donald Leo, expressed disappointment with the ruling. Related Links: Judge Acquits NYC Crane Owner A state court judge in Manhattan has cleared crane owner James F. Lomma of all charges related to a 2008 tower- crane collapse in New York City that killed a crane operator and a sewer worker. The saga is not over, though, as the victims' attorneys prepare to mount a civil trial against Lomma.Judge Daniel Conviser declared Lomma not guilty of all six counts, which included second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. Some
