Apple is currently demolishing buildings once occupied by Hewlett-Packard to make way for their Apple 2 campus. Security guards noticed a break-in in late November and called the police. After a police dog cornered the man, police found copper piping and wires that had been ripped from the walls of the old building. He was treated for a dog bite, then released on $11,000 bail.

The Apple 2 campus is a major a major construction project in Cupertino. The project is expected to be complete in 2016 and will have about 3.7 million square feet, space for about 12,000 employees.

Police in Kinston, North Carolina have warned residents that a group of men are contacting residents and telling them that they need expensive roof repairs. The men do not seem to be contractors. One resident, when contacted by the group, checked her own roof by going up a ladder. Seeing no damage, she called the police.

Police say this is the season for home repair scams. They caution homeowners to not give money up front for repairs, and always check to make certain that contractors are licensed and bonded.

U.S. Senators. Bill Nelson, (D.-Fl), and Mary Landrieu, (D.-LA) have filed legislation for a recall and immediate ban on tainted building products from China, as more and more people around the country are reporting problems in their homes built with imported drywall.

The legislation presses the Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC ) for a recall on Chinese-made drywall, based in part on findings by a Florida homebuilder and state officials who have confirmed the presence of sulfide gases in homes built with the drywall.

Congressman Robert Wexler, (D.-Fl), has filed similar legislation in the House. In addition, Wexler has urged Florida Governor Charlie Crist to declare a state of emergency in Florida over the product. This would allow homeowners to apply for federal loans to help repair their homes.

Nelson and Landrieu's legislation also asks the CPSC to work with federal testing labs and the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the level of hazard posed by certain chemicals and as yet unidentified organic compounds in the drywall.

In addition, the legislation calls on the commission to issue an interim ban on imports until it can create federal drywall safety standards so consumers are protected in the future.

Among other things, the drywall is linked to seeping sulfide gases that can corrode electrical wiring and components of air-conditioning and other household appliances.

The two lawmakers said they're hoping to jump-start a process for helping affected homeowners with the costs of repairs or replacement, which under their legislation would be the responsibility of the manufacturers.

The potential scope of the problem is big. Officials believe between 60,000 and 100,000 homes nationwide may contain tainted drywall. Nelson represents Florida, where an estimated 36,000 homes are believed to contain Chinese-made drywall. Landrieu represents Louisiana, where tons of the drywall was used in post-Hurricane Katrina construction. Besides Florida and Louisiana, problems also have been seen and reported in the press in Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi and California.

Nelson noted that during a recent three-to five-year period drywall from China arrived at ports around the country, including 60 million pounds in New Orleans and 27 million pounds in Mississippi - two areas hard hit by Hurricane Katrina.

"I believe you're going to see this is widespread," said Nelson, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees the CPSC. "Anytime you have mounting evidence of potentially toxic goods you have an obligation to act quickly to protect consumers."

On Feb. 13, Nelson wrote the CPSC and requested a federal investigation into the imported drywall. The CPSC launched an investigation two weeks later. Last week, a team of federal investigators was in southwest Florida inspecting the electrical systems of suspect homes.

A number of homeowners have filed lawsuits, and developers are suing the manufacturers of the drywall. Homeowner lawsuits contend the drywall has caused damage to the home, that the drywall itself must be replaced and, in some cases, that residents have suffered adverse health effects such as asthma as a result of exposure.

In the past, there has been at least one case involving widespread replacement of siding in numerous homes around the country. The siding, a concoction of wood scraps and resins, was installed on about 800,000 homes around the country from 1985 to 1995. It warped prematurely, rotted in wet weather and sprouted mushrooms and other fungus. The first complaints arose out of the use of the wood panels on roofs of houses in Florida.

About 67,000 homeowners lodged complaints and eventually the manufacturer paid 37,781 homeowners an average of $4,367 or a total of $165 million.

Earlier this month a Multnomah County (Portland) Oregon jury awarded Smith Freed & Eberhard's contractor client a defense verdict after a 3 week construction defect trial.

This was Oregon's first condominium conversion case to go to jury verdict.The project was a 10 story building originally constructed in 1965, but converted to condominiums within 10 years of the lawsuit. Claims involving defects in condominium conversions have been the latest trend of lawsuits in the Portland metropolitan area.

The plaintiff was the Washington Park Homeowners Association which had sued the developers, mechanical contractor, roofer, window manufacturer and Smith Freed & Eberhard's client, the contractor who painted the building exterior and installed replacement windows.

One defendant got out on summary judgment, but all the other defendants settled with plaintiff before trial. Smith Freed & Eberhard's clients defense at trial was lack of causation. According to trial attorneys Jack Levy and Kathrin Dragich who interviewed the jurors after the verdict, the jury agreed with the lack of causation argument. The building had damage, which trial attorneys Jack Levy and Kathrin Dragich argued could be repaired on a limited basis.

One of the newsworthy aspect of this verdict is that the jury did not buy the plaintiff's expert's opinion relating to plaintiffs scope of repairs, nor did they believe that the construction repair bids were reasonable. Plaintiff expert's scope included a couple of approaches, both involving the removal and replacement of all siding and windows. Estimates ranged from $3.4 to $4.6 million, all of which was targeted at the Smith Freed & Eberhard client.

The jurors appeared to clearly see this approach as overreaching and as a betterment to the project. Smith Freed & Eberhard's theme was that normal people, dealing with issues in their own lives, make targeted repairs to defined problems. Normal people don't tear down the house when a few windows leak.

In American Home Assurance Co. v. BFC Construction Corp.,. No. 4323 (N.Y. App. Div. Feb. 22, 2011), the named insured tendered its defense of the underlying lawsuit to its insurer. An additional insured was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Insurance News Net and a variety of legal publications reported today that a construction litigation team of six partners, two counsel and seven associates will be joining Pillsbury in its Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC and New York offices. The group comprising 15 individuals have reportedly left the Howrey firm, and are joining the construction practice group at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Pillsbury Firm Chair Jim Rishwain, commented that “We are enthusiastic to have this team of market-leading professionals join Pillsbury, as these attorneys are remarkable for their breadth of litigation and arbitration experience combined with an unsurpassed focus on construction and infrastructure. Under John Heisse's leadership, as former co-head of Howrey's Construction Litigation group, the team received the 2010 Award for Excellence in Construction by Chambers USA,” According to press releases and the Pillsbury website, the team comprises a marquee group of litigators with an emphasis on resolving disputes for general construction and engineering, real estate and infrastructure projects and securing insurance coverage for those matters. The partners joining Pillsbury are John R. Heisse (San Francisco), David T. Dekker (DC), Robert B. Thum (Los Angeles), Jeffrey Gans (DC), Melissa Lesmes (DC), and Michael McNamara (DC). Heisse will reportedly serve as a leader of Pillsbury s Firmwide Construction Litigation team. In addition, the team will also include two counsel in Los Angeles, five associates in DC, one associate in San Francisco and one associate in New York. Other Howrey partners have joined Pillsbury in the recent past, specifically San Francisco IP litigation partner Duane Mathiowetz joined the firm on February 12, 2011.

In a series of articles scheduled for publication this week, the LA Times reports on a number of construction defect, planning, and project management issues. According to the article, “Oversight and quality control problems have plagued the district's $5.7-billion, voter-approved bond program to rebuild its nine campuses.”The authors of the piece reportedly interviewed more than 200 people, visited construction sites at all nine colleges and examined thousands of documents obtained through the California Public Records Act. “Inspectors, architects and project managers began finding serious construction defects early on and grew increasingly frustrated as deadlines came and went and the complex ultimately opened with many of the problems uncorrected.”Read Full Story

A recent blog posting from Gerstin & Associates outlines some pending legislation, which has the potential of impacting on Florida’s numerous community associations.Despite that the 2011 legislative session doesn’t begin for another week or so, a number of bills have been filed that if passed promise to alter the complexion of community association management in Florida. The extent to which the legislation will impact on construction defect litigation in the state is unclear, though the contemplated Design Professionals Limited Liability Bill might limit damages from errors on the part of design professionals (architects, engineers) to the actual cost of the architects work, as opposed to the cost of remediation attendant to the errors. This bill was vetoed in 2010 by Governor Christ, but has been resubmitted for the upcoming legislative session.Read Original Story

Honolulu, Hawaii (Vocus/PRWEB) February 21, 2011 Previously a name partner at Roeca Louie & Hiraoka, Mr. Louie is a trial lawyer and has been in practice for the past 33 years. His areas of practice include personal injury defense, construction defect litigation and commercial litigation. While at Roeca Louie & Hiraoka, Mr. Louie was selected for inclusion in the 2011 Best Lawyers in America and was named a Hawaii Super Lawyer from 2008 to the present. Mr. Louie attended Occidental College (A.B. 1973 cum laude) and Boalt Hall School of Law (University of California 1977). “I couldn t be happier that Mr. Louie s accepted this critical position of State Attorney General,” said Governor Abercrombie. “He is well versed in many areas of law and will be a tireless advocate for the interests of the people of Hawaii. He is the kind of person we need on our team as we address the challenges facing our communities.” Read Full Story

Leflet v. Redwood Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, 600 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 6 (App. Div I, January 20, 2011) (J. Swan)IMPERMISSIBLE FOR INSURED AND INSURER TO ENTER MORRIS AGREEMENT THAT ELIMINATES PRIMARY INSURER’S OBLIGATION TO PAY POLICY LIMITS AND INSTEAD PASSES LIABILITY TO PAY TO EXCESS CARRIERHomeowner, insureds brought class action for construction defects. All relevant insurers including the insurer of the subcontractors issued reservations of right. The subcontractor’s insurer was obligated under its policy to also insure the general contractor. Ultimately the homeowners entered into a settlement agreement with the contractor and its primary insurer which included a stipulated judgment of $8.475 million. The agreement further attempted to absolve the primary insurer of any obligation to pay more than $375,000 and instead attempted to pass all responsibility to pay subcontractors and their insurers. Finally, the contractor and its insurer assigned all their rights against the subcontractors and their insurers to the class action plaintiff homeowners. Notably the subcontractors and their insurers had no notice of the agreement until it was finalized and approved by the court. The subcontractors ultimately settled under their exposure in the agreement and their carrier intervened during the reasonableness hearing of this Morris agreement. The trial court then ruled that the failure to give the sub’s insurer notice of the agreement constituted a breach of the cooperation clause and voided the agreement. The insurer was awarded attorneys’ fees and costs.The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed. “Unlike the insured in Morris, Hancock did not act simply to protect itself from an insurer’s refusal to extend unconditional coverage. Instead, it acted as an agent of an insurer that sought to limit its own liability. As parties to the agreement, the Direct Insurers’ interests were aligned with — not opposed to — those of their insured.” Further, the primary carrier shared none of the risks that the insured had and which form the grounds for a Morris agreement; the primary carrier does not have the risk of being personally exposed to an excess judgment or risk receiving nothing if the cooperation clause is deemed breached. “Because Morris agreements are fraught with risk of abuse, a settlement that mimics Morris in form but does not find support in the legal and economic realities that gave rise to that decision is both unenforceable and offensive to the policy’s cooperation clause.”Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of Ted Schmidt, Burt Kinerk, Dev Sethi and Matt Schmidt of Kinerk, Schmidt & Sethi, PLLC.

U.S. Senators. Bill Nelson, (D.-Fl), and Mary Landrieu, (D.-LA) have filed legislation for a recall and immediate ban on tainted building products from China, as more and more people around the country are reporting problems in their homes built with imported drywall.The legislation presses the Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC ) for a recall on Chinese-made drywall, based in part on findings by a Florida homebuilder and state officials who have confirmed the presence of sulfide gases in homes built with the drywall.Congressman Robert Wexler, (D.-Fl), has filed similar legislation in the House. In addition, Wexler has urged Florida Governor Charlie Crist to declare a state of emergency in Florida over the product. This would allow homeowners to apply for federal loans to help repair their homes.Nelson and Landrieu’s legislation also asks the CPSC to work with federal testing labs and the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the level of hazard posed by certain chemicals and as yet unidentified organic compounds in the drywall.In addition, the legislation calls on the commission to issue an interim ban on imports until it can create federal drywall safety standards so consumers are protected in the future.Among other things, the drywall is linked to seeping sulfide gases that can corrode electrical wiring and components of air-conditioning and other household appliances.The two lawmakers said they’re hoping to jump-start a process for helping affected homeowners with the costs of repairs or replacement, which under their legislation would be the responsibility of the manufacturers.The potential scope of the problem is big. Officials believe between 60,000 and 100,000 homes nationwide may contain tainted drywall. Nelson represents Florida, where an estimated 36,000 homes are believed to contain Chinese-made drywall. Landrieu represents Louisiana, where tons of the drywall was used in post-Hurricane Katrina construction. Besides Florida and Louisiana, problems also have been seen and reported in the press in Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi and California.Nelson noted that during a recent three-to five-year period drywall from China arrived at ports around the country, including 60 million pounds in New Orleans and 27 million pounds in Mississippi — two areas hard hit by Hurricane Katrina.“I believe you’re going to see this is widespread," said Nelson, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees the CPSC. "Anytime you have mounting evidence of potentially toxic goods you have an obligation to act quickly to protect consumers.”On Feb. 13, Nelson wrote the CPSC and requested a federal investigation into the imported drywall. The CPSC launched an investigation two weeks later. Last week, a team of federal investigators was in southwest Florida inspecting the electrical systems of suspect homes.A number of homeowners have filed lawsuits, and developers are suing the manufacturers of the drywall. Homeowner lawsuits contend the drywall has caused damage to the home, that the drywall itself must be replaced and, in some cases, that residents have suffered adverse health effects such as asthma as a result of exposure.In the past, there has been at least one case involving widespread replacement of siding in numerous homes around the country. The siding, a concoction of wood scraps and resins, was installed on about 800,000 homes around the country from 1985 to 1995. It warped prematurely, rotted in wet weather and sprouted mushrooms and other fungus. The first complaints arose out of the use of the wood panels on roofs of houses in Florida.About 67,000 homeowners lodged complaints and eventually the manufacturer paid 37,781 homeowners an average of $4,367 or a total of $165 million.