Notice, notice, notice. This should be your mindset when it comes to notifying your insurance carrier of a potential claim or loss.  I get it. Notice means opening up a claim number and the potential increase in insurance premiums.  Yet, untimely notice could mean fighting with your insurance carrier as to whether you provided them […]

The post NOTIFICATION TO INSURER AND THE “UNTIMELY NOTICE” FIGHT appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

The contract was cardinally changed.  Have you heard that before?  It is a “sexy” doctrine, but, in actuality, cardinal change is hard to demonstrate.  Under certain factual scenarios, it could have traction, but whether it will be recognized in the jurisdiction is typically a question of law. An unreported 2002 case out of Northern District […]

The post DOES YOUR JURISDICTION RECOGNIZE THE CARDINAL CHANGE DOCTRINE? appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

There are two types of differing site conditions claims.  A Type 1 claim and a Type 2 claim.  The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) describes these claims, which are often described similarly in any construction contract that has a differing site conditions clause. (Most construction contracts will have a differing site conditions clause.).  It is important […]

The post FOUR ELEMENTS TO PROVE TYPE 1 DIFFERING SITE CONDITIONS CLAIM appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

I have said this before, but it is worth saying it again.  Arbitration is a creature of contract.  This means if you want your dispute to be decided by an arbitrator through a binding arbitration process, you need have a written arbitration agreement.  Such agreement is oftentimes included in the dispute resolution provision of your […]

The post IF YOU WANT TO ARBITRATE, DON’T WAIVE YOUR RIGHTS TO DO SO appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

When you enter into a purchase-and-sale contract for real estate, keep in mind that you can modify the contract to include terms particular to the transaction.  These modifications can be important if an issue arises such as if closing does not timely occur.  In a new case, discussed here, three noteworthy pointers can be found […]

The post QUICK NOTE: PURCHASE-AND-SALE CONTRACTS AND THREE POINTERS appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

When it comes to a Miller Act payment bond claim, there is a one-year statute of limitations—“The Miller Act contains a statute of limitations provision that requires actions to ‘be brought no later than one year after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied by the person […]

The post MILLER ACT STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS AND EQUITABLE TOLLING appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

In one of Florida’s first appellate opinions dealing with business interruption losses and COVID-19, the appellate court found COVID-19 was not covered under the terms of the commercial property insurance policy to cover business interruption losses.  In this case, a restaurant/bar suffered losses due to emergency measures imposed by Miami Dade due to COVID-19.  Such emergency […]

The post QUICK NOTE: PHYSICAL LOSS OR DAMAGE UNDER PROPERTY INSURANCE POLICY = ACTUAL, TANGIBLE ALTERATION TO PROPERTY appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

What governs the transaction for the hybrid contract that includes both goods and services–the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) or the common law?  A question that is asked in numerous disputes.  A good example is the recent case out of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Wadley Crushed Stone Company, LLC v. Positive Step, Inc., 2022 WL […]

The post DOES THE UCC APPLY TO THE CONTRACT FOR THE SALE OF GOODS AND SERVICES appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

In a recent case, the appellate court held that the attorney’s fees provision in the contract was NOT broad enough to entitle the prevailing party to recover attorney’s fees for litigating the amount of attorney’s fees.  This is known as “fees on fees” which is when you can recover your prevailing party attorney’s fees when […]

The post QUICK NOTE: ATTORNEY’S FEES ON ATTORNEY’S FEES appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

If you are an unpaid contractor in direct contract with the owner of real property, you should be serving a Contractor’s Final Payment Affidavit prior to foreclosing on your construction lien.  This should extend to any trade contractor hired directly by the owner.  As a matter of course, I recommend any lienor hired directly by […]

The post FILING LIEN FORECLOSURE LAWSUIT AFTER SERVING CONTRACTOR’S FINAL PAYMENT AFFIDAVIT appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.