ALFA International Publications

Ten Provisions to Consider When Drafting or Negotiating Your Next Construction Contract The construction industry is rife with form contracts; the forms developed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) or the ConsensusDocs forms endorsed by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and many other construction industry professional organizations come chiefly to mind.  But as…

Introduction “It’s not what happened, but what you are able to prove happened that is important.” Snowden Stanley, a founding member of the ALFAC construction practice group, used to preach this maxim to clients and young attorneys alike. Indeed, whether it is addressing an injury/damage causing incident, delay claim, or potential error or defect allegation, there is little that is mor…

A.     Introduction These days, it is a rarity for projects to be completed on schedule, within the owner’s budget, or without some personnel strife. When projects get off track, it is common for designers and contractors to find themselves at odds with each other. This panel will discuss the typical problems that arise between design and construction teams during projects …

Introduction Wildfires, extreme heat, rising sea levels, flooding—the past few years have made clear that climate change poses an existential threat to people, communities, and businesses across the world. NOAA estimates that Americans experienced twenty separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2021 alone, at a cost of $145 billion. Last year, Hurricane Ian—estimated to be t…

When Construction Defect and Product Liability Claims Overlap Overview There is no such thing as a simple construction defect action.[i] Speaking from experience, even defect lawsuits with just two parties and modest recovery expectations can spiral into expert-driven and expensive litigation where liability, causation and damages issues are hard fought. Parties will clash over wheth…

Arbitration is having its golden hour. Heralded as the answer to expensive and time-consuming litigation, arbitration is currently the go-to dispute resolution option for most international construction projects and engineering disputes. As to whether arbitration truly delivers in terms of time and cost is an entire subject in its own right. In this discussion, we explore a more discreet issue. A …

Contractual Indemnity: The gift that keeps on giving (or taking) Contractual indemnification provisions may circumvent Worker’s Compensation Exclusivity and expose employers to double risk. Introduction Although workers’ compensation is typically meant to provide the exclusive remedy for an employee’s injuries and protect the employer from civil suit, some workers’ compensation la…

Introduction – Risk Transfer Generally Construction is risky business. Owners’ risks include delays, contractor insolvency, financing issues, differing site conditions, and defective design and/or construction. Contractors risk jobsite injuries, disputes over alleged defects in the work, labor shortages, material cost escalation, project impacts outside their control, as well as lower-tier …

Indemnification Generally An indemnity agreement provides that one party to the agreement will reimburse the other for loss or injury that the party may suffer because of a specified event or that one party will protect the other from harm or loss.[1] Construction indemnity agreements are a promise by which one party (the indemnitor) agrees to defend, indemnify, or hold harmless another pa…

Microaggressions – What are they? The term “microaggression” originated in the late 1960s with Harvard University professor Chester Pierce who coined the term to describe the way in which he routinely saw non-black Americans insult, dismiss, and mistreat black Americans.[i] The meaning of the word has broadened over time, as noted in the definition for the term given by Dr. Derald W…