ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Florida Litigation Team Delivers Crushing Summary Judgment Victory for National Home Builder

December 08, 2025 — Wood Smith Henning & Berman
The Wood Smith Henning & Berman Orlando trial team recently delivered a significant victory for a national home builder, obtaining three separate summary judgment rulings that resulted in a complete dismissal of all claims in a premises liability action in which the plaintiff demanded a seven-figure settlement. Partner Ian Gillan and Senior Associate Brian Hartley filed targeted motions for summary judgment addressing (1) trespassing; (2) Florida Building Code issues, and (3) OSHA applicability. The court granted all three motions. The case involved allegations that the plaintiff sustained injuries on a residential construction site. Plaintiff asserted that alleged violations of the Florida Building Code and OSHA regulations established a standard of care that was breached. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Wood Smith Henning & Berman

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Government Claiming Contract Is Void Ab Initio by Contractor Knowingly Making False Statements

January 06, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
Can the federal government declare a contract “void ab initio” or void from the beginning? Yes, if the government can “prove that the contractor (a) obtained the contract by (b) knowingly (c) making a false statement.” MLB Transportation v. U.S., 2025 WL 2962897, *8 (Fed.Cl. 2025) (citation omitted).

Where a contractor “obtained [a] contract by knowingly falsely stating that it was a small business … [the] government contract [is] tainted from its inception by fraud [and] is void ab initio.” The general rule that “a Government contract tainted by fraud or wrong-doing is void ab initio … protects the integrity of the federal contracting process and safeguards the public from undetectable threats to the public fisc.” A contract found to be void ab initio has “no legal effect,” and is “[n]ull from the beginning, as from the first moment when a contract is entered into.”

MLB Transportation, supra (citations omitted).

Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

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LLMs in Construction: Where They Fail and Where They Shine

September 30, 2025 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
At the Building 2030 Summer Seminar, doctoral researchers Tuomas Valkonen and Roope Nyqvist from Aalto University shared fresh insights into how Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and DeepSeek perform in construction-related tasks. The results highlight a simple truth: used wisely, LLMs can accelerate knowledge work; used unwisely, they can produce nonsensical results in areas where precision is critical. HVAC Systems Descriptions with an LLM Tuomas Valkonen shared his experiences using ChatGPT without any customization as a helper for MEP designers. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

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Salt Lake City Turns Winter Olympic Bid Into Statewide Bond Boom

August 12, 2025 — Arvelisse Bonilla Ramos - Bloomberg
Utah is betting that the 2034 Winter Olympics can do more than bring the world to Salt Lake City. It wants the Games to jumpstart a lasting economic transformation. Local governments and agencies issued more than $4 billion of municipal bonds this year, fueling a surge of development across Salt Lake City, nearby ski resorts and the booming tech corridor to the south. Those debt issuances mark a 140% increase compared what Utah-based borrowers sold during the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While several of the sales are framed as Olympic preparation, the projects are part of a broader effort to reshape the growing region into a hub for sports, tourism and business. Downtown Salt Lake is the centerpiece of this vision. In April, the city created a bond-issuing district to fund projects in the agreed reinvestment zone and to finance $1.8 billion in upgrades. The city had previously approved increasing a local sales tax to support renovations to the Salt Palace Convention Center and the Delta Center. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Arvelisse Bonilla Ramos, Bloomberg

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Kiewit Seeks Millions in Added Connecticut Pier Renovation Costs

September 08, 2025 — Richard Korman - Engineering News-Record
Kiewit Corp. and the Connecticut Port Authority are preparing to begin mediation over tens of millions of dollars the contractor giant believes it is owed for the multiyear renovation of a critical state pier in New London, port officials said. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Richard Korman, Engineering News-Record
Mr. Korman may be contacted at kormanr@enr.com

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Los Angeles Team Secures Summary Judgment for Client in Wrongful Death Lawsuit over Construction Incident

October 13, 2025 — Lewis Brisbois Newsroom
Los Angeles, Calif. (August 25, 2025) - Los Angeles Partner Heather Hamby and Orange County Partner Steven Gatley recently secured summary judgment in favor of an owner, property developer and project holding company, in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a construction project incident. The Los Angeles Superior Court judge found that there were no triable issues of fact concerning whether or not workers’ compensation coverage would cover the incident. The lawsuit involved the claims of three plaintiffs, the children and dependents of the decedent, who alleged that the defendants were liable for the severe jobsite injuries and eventual death of their father from the injuries when lumbar beams fell on him while he was working at defendants’ jobsite. The plaintiffs argued that the workers’ compensation exclusivity doctrine did not apply to the workplace incident because the decedent was an independent contractor. They argued that the decedent used his own tools at work, was not paid through payroll, and that there was no workers’ compensation coverage available because it was initially denied when the claim was opened. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

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Additional Insured’s Claim for a Defense Is Dismissed

December 22, 2025 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The court dismissed the additional insured’s complaint seeking a defense against a personal injury case. Piece Mgmt., Inc. v. Atlantic Casualty Ins. Co., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 205589 (S.D. N. Y. Oct. 18, 2025). The underlying plaintiff, Mustafaa Dais alleged that he was injured when a glass door collapsed onto him as he exited BJ’s Restaurant. Dais sued BJ’s seeking damages for his injuries. He later amended his complaint to add Piece Management, Inc. the property’s management company, and Narway, Inc., the company hired to install the glass door. Under the subcontract between Piece and Narwy, Narway was required to maintain a general liability policy and to add Piece as an additional insured. Narway obtained the required policy from Atlantic Casualty Insurance Company. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

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Hazards Ahead: OSHA's Top 10 Citations of 2024

August 25, 2025 — Taylor Thorn - Construction Executive
The latest data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration highlights systemic safety challenges that continue to put workers at risk and create business liabilities. But beyond those citations lie opportunities: to prevent injuries, reinforce a culture of safety and protect the bottom line. Several of OSHA’s top 10 violations in 2024 apply directly to construction professionals. Fall protection in particular has held the number one spot for 14 consecutive years, with more than 7,000 citations issued in 2024. More than 6,500 of those citations came from the construction industry. In a field where falls are the leading cause of fatalities, this trend is deeply concerning. Other top citations are similarly rooted in routine jobsite activities, such as incorrect ladder usage, incomplete or outdated hazard communication programs, and missing eye protection. These issues reflect a broader challenge: Safety protocols might be written down, but they aren’t always enforced, understood or adapted to the realities of fast-paced construction work. Reprinted courtesy of Taylor Thorn, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the full story...

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