Disqus - Friends of constructionlaw

Re: State Ethics rules to bar blogs? Horse pucky

Scott Wolfe Jr — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:38:37 -0000

Hey Kevin - Scott Wolfe here. We just posted a comment on the Simple Justice Blog (http://blog.simplejustice.us) in response to an article about our complaint similar to your article.
You can read this comment here: http://tinyurl.com/blognoevil2
The jist: We never said that the new ad rules "ban blogging." In fact, our complaint states that our actual website is likely exempt.
We're more concerned about speaking elsewhere.

Re: State Ethics rules to bar blogs? Horse pucky

Scott Wolfe Jr — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:38:37 -0000

Re: Construction Law, Richmond, Virginia

Scott Wolfe Jr — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:32:29 -0000

Thanks very much for the plug. Our blog is 3-4 weeks from an overhaul, and plan to have your site on our blog roll, etc.

Re: Average Hourly Rate or Ratio Analysis To Thwart Work Hoarding

Scott Wolfe Jr — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:46:15 -0000

Great post, Patrick. I'm a big fan of your blog, and of the importance of criticizing the legal profession as we know it. The big-firm model, the bloating of billable hours and the system is simply broken.
I will say that breaking-away from the status quo is very difficult. Our firm tries to stay ahead of the curve in so many areas, but we can't seem to completely shake the billable hour. We have some alternative billing arrangements, but haven't been able to figure out an alternative formula for many of our clients, who have some matters that take 1 letter, and some matters that go into full blown-out litigation.
I will keep reading and coming up with ideas, however. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem of ours, too, we'd be happy to hear.

Re: Thoughts?

Scott Wolfe Jr — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:44:46 -0000

If its the building code, I'd imagine that the same standard of care would apply. I think the standard of care would heighten as the parties negotiate LEED benchmarks - i.e., parties always refer to code in contract documents, but less often spell out specific code requirements. Where LEED building requirements apply to a building, it seems the parties are taking more notice of them, discussing them, repeating them in contract, etc. In this instance, courts and arbitrators might increase the standard of care a bit. Will be interesting...

what was the verdict between you & Shari?

Re: Time for Prompt Payment Acts in Washington & Louisiana?

Scott Wolfe Jr — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:09:28 -0000

Hi Mike. Thanks for stopping by with the comment and the perspective from the public sector. Perhaps we'll do another post with regard to public projects, and federal projects.

Re: Time for Prompt Payment Acts in Washington & Louisiana?

Scott Wolfe Jr — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:09:28 -0000

Hi Mike. Thanks for stopping by with the comment and the perspective from the public sector. Perhaps we'll do another post with regard to public projects, and federal projects.

Re: The Stimulus Package And The Construction Market

Scott Wolfe Jr — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:28:57 -0000

Chris - I'm with you on hoping that our friends and clients get a piece of this pie. But, like James McConnell, I'm interested in how this all plays out.
Thanks for stopping by guys, and commenting.

Re: Arbitration: Looking Like a Good Thing for Consumers

Scott Wolfe Jr — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 07:34:41 -0000

Hi Chris - I agree with your comments. I find that the success of arbitration, when compared with litigation, is really hit or miss. Oftentimes, a client will spend just as much - or more - on an arbitration.
We have drafted a few contracts lately that gives our clients the option of arbitrating or litigating in the event of a dispute. Haven't had to litigate that particular provision yet...but I think it's very difficult to predict that arbitration is the right fit for a dispute...without knowing about the dispute.

Re: Chinese Drywall Problems Proliferate

Scott Wolfe Jr — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:00:03 -0000

Hi James - The Chinese Drywall problem finally made it to the local news outlets in New Orleans, and its causing quite a stir. While there is much talk about how the Chinese Drywall contamination is affecting homeowners and property owners...another victim to the situation is unfortunately being overlooked: the local builders and suppliers.

We have tried to blog about this issue and give some information to business owners on our construction law blog, Construction Law Monitor. You can see these posts under the "Chinese Drywall" tag here:

http://www.constructionlawm...

Re: The Duty to Mitigate Damages…and Chinese Drywall

Scott Wolfe Jr — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:44:08 -0000

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. It's interesting that you have filed an individual suit against your builder related to Chinese Drywall, as those are few and far between so far. Would you mind sharing where the suit was filed?

As far the imported drywall causing problems to the building studs, I don't remember exactly where we read that. However, I don't think the damage is caused directly to the studs (meaning, I don't think it actually causes the studs to degenerate). However, the "damage" still exists because some are recommending that all studs get replaced when curing a property of Chinese Drywall.

See an AP report here that mentions this: http://www.rgj.com/article/20090411/NEWS12/90411013. I found this by Google'ing the phrase: "chinese drywall damage to building studs."

The best thing to do on this point is rely on your experts. Good luck - and if you are comfortable sharing a little bit about your suit, please post it here or email me directly at scott@wolfelaw.com. I'd like to speak to your attorney about the suit and write a post here about it.

Thanks!

Re: Chinese Drywall Crisis Presents Builders, Construction Lawyers and Homeowners With Difficult Choices (Construction Lawyers)

Scott Wolfe Jr — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:13:31 -0000

Hi Chris - Thanks for stopping by. Yea, your points are good here. The funny thing about these Chinese Drywall cases is how messy these issues become. Every state is different (i.e. the VA economic loss rule's applicability), and each plaintiff has to look at the possible defendants and determine how practical it is to collect from them.

Re: Chinese Drywall Crisis Presents Builders, Construction Lawyers and Homeowners With Difficult Choices (Construction Lawyers)

Scott Wolfe Jr — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:19:40 -0000

Thanks Andrea! Not sure about how homeowners insurers are handling the claims across the board, but the talk is that insurance companies are denying coverage based on the pollution exclusion.
I wrote about one suit by a homeowner against their homeowners insurance policy on the Chinese Drywall Blog here:
http://chinesedrywallblog.com/2009/04/homeowner-sues-their-homeowners-insurer-for-chinese-drywall-defects/
As you can see from reading the pleading (linked in that article), the denial of insurance based on pollution exclusions is at the heart of the complaint.
We'll see what happens.

Re: Arbitration May Apply to Non-Signatories

Scott Wolfe Jr — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:01:33 -0000

As far as this legal issue goes...it seems that when it rains it pours.
Not only has the WA Supreme Court decided this issue, but the US Supremes weighed in this week on how arbitration clauses are possibly applied to non-signatories.
See this blog post about the decision:
http://www.karlbayer.com/blog/?p=1722

Re: A Law Firm Divided - LSU v. UW in Seattle

Scott Wolfe Jr — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:50:30 -0000

Rock out. I can't wait. Become our friend on Facebook and you can mark your attendance there.

Re: The Duty to Mitigate Damages…and Chinese Drywall

Scott Wolfe Jr — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:16:31 -0000

Thanks for your comment on the blog. Unfortunately, I'm unable to provide you with legal advice...without representation. Good luck.

Re: "Green Building" Senate Bill 91 Pending in Louisiana Legislature

Scott Wolfe Jr — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:46:10 -0000

Hi Linda - Thanks for the comment. Right now, unfortunately, I don't have any information about whether it will come up for a vote soon or some other time. I also don't have any information that the Bill is dead (yet).

On the Louisiana legislature page, it is still reporting to be "Pending in Conference Committee." http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/byinst.asp?sessionid=09RS&billid=SB91. We'll see soon.

Re: New Orleans Solar School Initiative

Scott Wolfe Jr — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:32:05 -0000

I'm sorry, I don't know the other involved school.

Re: Revisiting “Including”

Scott Wolfe Jr — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:13:11 -0000

I enjoyed this article. In drafting agreements I've frequently thought about this issue with "including." Using the phrase "but not limited to" is redudant, but it is so commonly used, I feel incorrect in not using it. One thing I must be careful about is being consistent, which is the problem with using "but not limited to" ... as it's natural to use the word "including" frequently, but only think to use the superfluous followup provision here and there in those circumstances where it feels specially required.

Re: Tweaking Your Arbitration Clause

Scott Wolfe Jr — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:41:53 -0000

Great article. I think it&#039s funny how so many arbitration articles came up this week - the law.com article you mentioned, a WSJ article, one over at the Louisiana Construction Law Blog, and the one I just posted this morning: How To Make Arbitration Worth It Again. (referencing your post).

The long and short of what everyone has said is this: There are pros and cons to arbitration, you can mitigate some of the cons by supplementing your arbitration clauses with things that work for you.

It&#039s a great point. With all the commentary about arbitration this week - it&#039s clear that the arbitration process needs tailoring, or it&#039ll turn you into a critic.

Re: Lawyers Make the Law Too Difficult

Scott Wolfe Jr — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:14:30 -0000

Great, great quote from Justice Jackson. I frequently get frustrated by this same issue, and it's especially apparent to my clients who - like yours - are in the construction industry.
When they need to file a lien they learn about 100 requirements that are there to protect the parties...but the parties had no idea those requirements existed.
When they have a dispute, they learn about crazy interpretations of their contract's various provisions, and a number of other things that are there to govern their relationship with some other party...but as between those parties, they had no idea those interpretations or requirements existed.
Nice to hear this frustration put into words.

Re: Where Does Your Mechanics Lien Claim Need to Identify the Last Date You Worked

Scott Wolfe Jr — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 02:32:45 -0000

Great post, and very interesting decision and complexity in Illinois lien law. Loved the ability to listen to oral argument of the decision here. Wish it was that easy all over the country to listen in on oral arguments.
I agree with the recent decision, that if it isn't in the statute...it shouldn't be required. Washington is facing a similar situation. Washington liens must be signed and verified, and the Washington statutes provide specific language as to how the signatures should be made. In Williams v. Athletic Field, the court struck down a lien that contained language identical to the language in the statute. The court ruled that the verification should have been made pursuant to another statute (regarding verifications in general).
There are some differences between these two decisions, but there's also an interesting connection. Athletic Field is now sitting with the WA Supreme Court. Hopefully they will follow in National City's footsteps and rule that a lien meeting the specific requirements of the lien statutes is enough.

Re: Round-up Of Links From The Past Week (4 February 2011)

Scott Wolfe Jr — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 23:09:57 -0000

Thanks for linking to our post on Construction Law Monitor!

Re: The time for machine-readable invoices is now

Scott Wolfe Jr — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:30:55 -0000

Has anything ever been done so that Freshbooks can generate invoices in LEDES format?