Our California Offices

Solving legal
problems for
our clients
since 1950

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Practice Areas

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Business Transactions

Construction

Employment

Healthcare

Insurance Coverage

Personal Injury

Products Liability

Professional Liability

Real Estate

Toxic Tort

Workers' Compensation

 

CONSTRUCTION

 

The Construction practice group represents a depth of litigation, trial and appellate experience, as well as ADR experience. We are committed to using the most appropriate means to provide cost-effective resolution of our clients' conflicts.

We defend developers, owners, general contractors, and subcontractors in claims and lawsuits involving single- and multi-family residential properties and commercial properties. We have handled a wide range of claims, including Construction Defect, Breach of Contract, Mechanics' Liens, Stop Notices, Delay Claims, Contractual Indemnity, accidents, and others.

Representative Matters

• Successfully defended a multi-million dollar construction defect/mold case and recovered $100,000 in costs for our client.
• In large, multi-family residential construction defect cases, we have repeatedly succeeded in having cases dismissed, based on "other insurance" provisions of Insurance Code Section 1063.1, et. seq.
• We have repeatedly recovered all monies owed our contractor clients via mechanics' liens and stop notice suits, including attorney's fees.
• On multiple occasions, we have obtained complete defense judgments in favor of our contractor and manufacturer clients for multi-party construction lawsuits.
• Successfully tendered the defense and negotiated the reimbursement of virtually all attorney's fees and cost of a construction defect lawsuit on behalf of our client, who was the developer of an office building but had hired a general contractor pursuant to a design-build contract to build it. The general contractor was responsible for the construction and design of the office building, including the design to protect against any flooding of the building. This design-build contract also included an indemnity provision. To successfully pursue the tender of defense, we had to overcome the argument that the developer was already obtaining a defense of the matter through its CGL insurer.

Seminars

OCIP (Owner Controlled Insurance Programs) Seminar

This seminar provides information about policies for insurers, their insured clients and defense counsel. The presentation focuses on the critical points of defending construction defect actions arising out of work on projects subject to OCIP or "wrap" policies with burning limits, and the potential traps and strategies for defending these claims.

Stearman Costs Seminar

Our seminar on Stearman v. Centex Homes [(2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 611] surveys: (a) the types of costs that plaintiffs who succeed at trial may potentially recover from defendants as part of the damages award; (b) the impact of Stearman damages on the calculus of whether to settle or try the case; (c) potential settlement offers in light of claimed Stearman damages; and (d) the types of documents that must be obtained from plaintiffs in order to evaluate which investigative costs may be subject to recovery under Stearman.