ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS
DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Court Resolves Disagreement on the Amount of the Deductible

December 02, 2025 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
After a windstorm caused damage to the insured’s building and repair materials, the court sided with the insured in determining the amount of the deductible. Semaho, Inc. v. AMCO Ins. Co., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 193521 (D. Colo. Sept. 30, 2025). Semaho owned two commercial buildings insured under a policy issued by AMCO. The buildings were damaged in a windstorm and Semaho’s contractor stored the building materials for the repairs on one building’s roof. A second windstorm then seriously damaged the building materials stored on the roof. Semaho submitted a claim for the lost building materials. Coverage was undisputed but the parties disagreed over which deductible should apply to Semaho’s claim. The key policy provision stated that the deductible should be calculated separately for the “building” and for certain categories of “personal property,” based on “the value(s) of the property that has sustained loss or damage.” 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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Dallas County District Court Grants Kahana Feld’s Motion to Dismiss for Want of Prosecution

December 30, 2025 — Kahana Feld
Kahana Feld successfully obtained dismissal of a lawsuit in the 95th Judicial District Court of Dallas County. The Court granted our Motion to Dismiss for Want of Prosecution, agreeing that the plaintiff failed to diligently pursue their claims after more than 18 months of inactivity, despite an upcoming trial date. Our team demonstrated that the plaintiff had not initiated discovery or scheduled depositions, and furthermore, the delay was not excused by former counsel’s withdrawal. Consequently, the judge declined the plaintiff’s request for additional time and dismissed the case without prejudice. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Kahana Feld

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Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (8/20/25) – Hotel Growth Forecast, Data Center Availability and an AI Rental Revolution

September 23, 2025 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, AI cuts disaster infrastructure losses, multifamily drives increase in CRE delinquency rates, commercial services firms lead in office and industrial leasing activity, and more!

• AI applications such as predictive maintenance and digital twins could prevent 15% of projected natural disaster losses to power grids, water systems and transportation infrastructure. (Robyn Griggs Lawrence, Construction Dive)
• U.S. hotel growth forecast has been downgraded amid continued underperformance and elevated macroeconomic concerns. (Noelle Mateer, Hotel Dive)
• Multifamily was the only major commercial real estate sector to post increases in delinquency and servicing rates in July. (Leslie Shaver, Multifamily Dive)

Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

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Risk Associated with Design-Build Project Delivery Method

October 21, 2025 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
The design-build project delivery method is when the design-builder (typically the contractor) is responsible for both the design and construction of the project. Thus, the responsibility for both the design and construction falls under the same umbrella and, naturally, carries more risk. The discussion below demonstrates risk involved in the design-build project delivery method, particularly in the government contracting arena:

Design-build contracts are common for construction, renovations, and repair projects, where the government provides the contractor with its requirements, but the contractor is free to exercise its ingenuity in achieving that objective or standard of performance and selecting the means to do so. It is not uncommon for issues to arise in design-build contracts. One of the more common issues is when the contract describes a certain requirement, but later during the design process, the contractor will submit in the 35% or 100% design submittal with a lower requirement. The government will unknowingly approve that design, not realizing the contractor may have “slipped in” or made an error on one of the requirements; thus, the approved 100% design has a lower requirement as compared to the contract. In these situations, we have found that the government is justified in demanding the contractor provide the requirements specified in the RFP and resulting contract.

Thus, our long-held rule has been that the government cannot properly be blamed for approving the design when the contractor failed to inform the government that its design deviated from Task Order minimum requirements.

Appeals of - Meltech Corporation, Inc., ASBCA No. 61766, 2025 WL 2166133 (ASBCA 2025) (internal 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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Virginia Multi-Employer Site Safety Issues–and How to Deal with Them

February 02, 2026 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
The world of the Owner, Contractor, Subcontractor “straight line” project model is long gone. Increasingly complex construction needs for commercial owners require the services of numerous trades, and even multiple “prime” contractors at times, to perform the various stages of construction. Because of the complex and multi-employer nature of the modern commercial worksite, as a contractor, you may no longer be responsible only for the safety of your own employees. Depending on the state in which your project is being built, you, as a general contractor, may be responsible for hazards at your worksite that you did not create. On federal job sites (or in states that have merely adopted the federal OSHA standard), one rule applies. In some states that have their own safety regulations, another rule applies. Under the Federal OSHA guidelines, the state regulations must be at least as stringent as those of the Federal safety regulations. This flexibility allows states to impose stricter (though not more lenient) rules upon construction site contractors. While this flexibility allows state safety officials to better tailor their policies, it has caused confusion in the multi-employer realm. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of The Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

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Don’t Ignore Prejudgment Interest

February 02, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
When it comes to contracts, there may be a clause that provides that untimely payments shall bear interest at a particular rate. Or it may be the statutory rate. That clause will come into play when determining prejudgment interest. In ANY dispute, prejudgment interest can be an important damages component that accrues from the date of the loss. Don’t ignore prejudgment interest. The Fourth District of Florida, in a construction dispute, maintained:

“[I]f a plaintiff establishes that he sustained out-of-pocket loss, prejudgment interest must be awarded from the date of the loss. The trial court has no discretion regarding awarding prejudgment interest and must do so applying the statutory rate of interest in effect at the time the interest accrues.”

Bensusan v. Design Engineering Group, LLC, 2025 WL 3466367 (Fla. 4th DCA 2025) (citation 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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How Slow and Steady Can Lose the Race - Pacing and Delay Claims

September 23, 2025 — Curt Martin & Lee Banta - ConsensusDocs
In the well-known fable, the tortoise’s slow and steady pace prevailed. But how often do your construction projects resemble a fairy tale? The practice of “pacing” makes common sense in construction just as it does in racing. But pacing can be misunderstood in the context of a delay claim and can even cause the contractor to lose its claim for delay damages. Here’s a cautionary look at pacing and delay claims. The concept of liability for delay is familiar, but important to restate as a foundation of this discussion. Delays fall into one of four categories, with differing outcomes.

• Owner-caused delays are often called “compensable delays.” The contract and/or common law typically allows the contractor relief for added time and cost for these delays. (This is contemplated in Section 6.3.2 of ConsensusDocs 200.)

Reprinted courtesy of Curt Martin, Peckar & Abramson, PC and Lee Banta, Peckar & Abramson, PC Mr. Martin may be contacted at cmartin@pecklaw.com Mr. Banta may be contacted at lbanta@pecklaw.com Read the full story...

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How to Properly Fill Out and Use the Conditional Waiver and Release on Progress Payment Form Used in California Construction

December 15, 2025 — William L. Porter - Porter Law Group
This is the first article in a series of four articles discussing how to properly fill out the four California construction releases described in California Civil Code 8132 – 8138. Let me start by noting that in addition to practicing construction law for more than 35 years, I chaired the committee of California construction attorneys who revised those sections of the California Civil Code dealing with this release form and many other construction forms as part of Senate Bill 189 in 2010. I also wrote the first version of this release form and made it free to the public well before the new law took effect in 2012. With this background, let me note a few things about the Conditional Waiver and Release on Progress Payment form to help you avoid mistakes that might prevent you from achieving the intended effect or the form or releasing claim rights to a greater extent than you intend. At the end of this article is a copy of the form itself which includes numbers coinciding with the instructions I will give below. A live electronically fillable version of the form is available on our firm’s website (www.porterlaw.com) under the “Forms” section. It is free and you can fill it out on your screen before printing it out and signing it. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of William L. Porter, Porter Law Group
Mr. Porter may be contacted at bporter@porterlaw.com

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