Construction Litigation and Its Importance

Producing world class structures is crucial to the success of anyone involved in the construction industry. It's important to keep the project moving along and finalize any necessary transactions in a timely manner in order to maintain a profitable enterprise. However, a number of things can go wrong during the process which could cost owners or companies a fortune.

Construction litigation can be quite complex due to the high number of parties and numerous moving parts involved. This creates several opportunities for issues to arise that can quickly skew the project's deadline or halt the production all together. Someone dealing with construction litigation may deal with anything from material suppliers, to local government agencies that provide permits, to contractors, architects, property owners and the like.

Construction litigation can be broken down into several different yet overlapping segments. There are also sub segments to each of the main segments. The major segments consist of:
Contract negotiations and preparationLiens and security interest to secure paymentConstructive defect litigationConstruction delay litigationPersonal injury litigation involving construction defects

Importance of Attorney Involvement

Construction litigation attorneys provide the greatest benefit for their clients through early involvement in the construction process. Having the attorney present at the inception of the project, as opposed to hiring once a problem arises, allows the client and the lawyer to work together toward common goals. Not to mention, it removes the potential for delay caused by teaching the newly hired attorney the logistics of the case. Considering time is crucial, spending time updating an attorney will only make things worse, especially if a big issue has occurred that must be worked out fairly quickly.

Stages of Construction Litigation

Before construction begins, it's important identify and negotiate a realistic liquidated damage clause. It is a somewhat unenthusiastic, yet necessary part of the process. Reviewing all the relevant documents, gathering expert witnesses and discovering what the opposing side will argue will all be steps taken prior to the actual trial. Having an experienced construction litigation attorney will also prove extremely beneficial during this phase and into the trial stage. The trial stage involves the study and organization of all discovery documents produced and received, and all of the deposition testimony taken. Organizing witnesses and documentation during this phase will also be vital to ensuring a successful outcome.

Remember, litigation is a fluid, rapidly changing environment so it's important to be realistic in the approach. Patience and determination are often necessary for the attainment of a feasible and pleasant outcome along with strategy, research and knowledge of the law.

This article was written by Roger Brent Hatcher, an attorney at Smith, Gilliam, Williams & Miles, a leading Atlanta Law Firm since 1928.

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Changes to the Construction Act 1996

Did you realise that alterations have been made to the Construction Act 1996 from the 1st October 2011? It's crucial that you stay as up to date as you can with all the current laws - this short article will share the alterations with all of you. The adjustments are referred to as Part 8 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (LDEDCA) and as a result of these adjustments the Scheme for Construction Contracts has been revised as well.

The first change is the identification of payments that falls under the Construction Contract and the right to withhold payment has been rewritten. There's now a beefed up necessity for the management to offer a payment notice specifying how much he considers to be given to the contractor. If the employer does not serve this notice, then the contractor has the right to serve his own default payment notice which sets out what he considers to be paid. Whatever amount is specified in the payment notice needs to be paid unless a withholding notice is served. This basically means that loopholes have been extracted which beforehand permitted employers to prevent payment in circumstances where they had failed to serve without having a withholding notice. This change is likely to increase certainty and cash flow.

A further alteration is that 'pay when certified' clauses have been taken out. It's now not lawful to make payment conditional upon performance under another contract. It'll also be unlawful for a sub-contract to have a clause that says the sub-contractor only gets paid when the main contractor's application is authorized by the architect or engineer acting under the primary contract. There is a limited exception for 'management contracting'.

Following on from that, the adjudication laws have been altered to outlaw conditions that make one party liable for costs of adjudication no matter what the outcome. Also, a contractor is now able to claim an extension of time for any period of valid suspension or delay such as winding down, which has enhanced their right to suspend performance for non-payment. The defaulting party is also required to give the contractor reasonable costs and costs incurred in suspending performance.

The last change is that the Construction Act has now been elongated to cover contracts that are purely oral or only partially recorded on paper. If you have any kind of questions about the alterations to the Construction Act of 1996, then it's highly suggested that you go and speak to your solicitor.

Gosschalks is a trusted legal firm that specialises in this area. If you wish to find out any more information about this, a good idea would be to turn to Gosschalks.

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