This article is part of a series of articles which are designed to identify several key clauses that every party to a construction contract should carefully review and understand prior to entering into a contract. This article will discuss "Concealed Conditions",...
Board-Certified In Construction Law By The Florida Bar
Year: 2013
A Contractor May Be Held Liable For Its Supplier’s Defective Materials. But That May Not Be The End Of The Story.
Retailers are sometimes held liable for product defects, even though they did nothing more than sell a product without knowledge of its defects. The same thing can happen to contractors and subcontractors. They incorporate the defective work or materials of someone...
Not So Fast. Land Use Permit Conditions Must Be Reasonable
By: Harry Malka, Esquire Your Construction Law FirmTM In Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management Dist. 77 So. 3d 1220 (2013), Coy Koontz, Sr. ("Koontz"), sought permits to develop a section of his property from the St. Johns River Water Management District...
Florida Construction Law Legislative Update 2013
This annual Legislative Session in Tallahassee was an active session for construction law related issues. In our continuing effort to keep our clients up to date on the latest construction law issues, Your Construction Law FirmTM provides this summary as to the...
Owner/Contractor Under Duty To Ensure Safe Site
Worthington Communities, Inc., was both the property owner and the general contractor for a condominium project in Fort Meyers. Worthington contracted with Sunshine Masonry, Inc. ("Sunshine") to install forms and pour concrete for structural divisions between floors....
It Is Business . . . It Is Not Personal
As Tom Hagen said to Sonny Corleone in the Godfather, it "is business, not personal." Words to live by. Often in our line of work, clients want their pound of flesh. They want to prove the other side wrong, and make them pay. We, as lawyers, do well from a financial...
But That Is Not What I Meant! Too Bad So Sad!
As we have written before, reformation, or correction of mistakes in a contract are not a legal right. While a court can order that a contract be rewritten to take into account some mistakes, the court's ability to do so is limited. The only sure fire way to be...
Is Your Business Protected Under Ever Changing Laws?
The law regularly changes, but often, business are not keeping up. Long standing practices that have worked for years may seem difficult to change, but failing to do so can be costly. Whether it is required language to be included within your contracts, or...
Contractor Wins Judgment…Momentarily At Least
In Kritikos v. Anderson, 2013 WL 1748678 (Fla. 4th DCA Apr. 24, 2013), a residential owner of Florida property ("Owner") entered into a contract with a New York architect ("Architect") to design an ocean front home to be built on Jupiter Island, Florida. Owner entered...
Is Appraisal Even Mandatory Anymore? Depends on The Policy.
Casualty insurance policies have long contained provisions requiring appraisal as to disputes. All too often, property owners would being suit to force their insurer to pay for a covered loss, only to have the case dismissed or stayed until the property owner complied...