Construction Law

Preti Flaherty's Construction Law Group represents clients at local, regional and national levels with the contracting and litigation aspects of construction projects, large and small. Since commercial projects are increasingly complex, our primary goal is to guide our clients throughout the various project phases to a successful completion, including support with insurance and lending requirements and planning, zoning and permitting issues.

However, when litigation is necessary, our team of litigators brings a wealth of experience in complex construction litigation to protect our clients' interests. We understand the dynamics of managing multiple parties and have successfully represented a wide variety of clients including construction firms, all types of owners (hospitals, municipalities, and universities), construction lenders, architects and engineers.

With over 90 attorneys at Preti Flaherty and multiple practice groups, our Construction Law Group is able to engage and coordinate the expertise of other groups within the firm, such as taxation, bankruptcy, intellectual property, real estate transactions, governmental agency relations, labor and employment and beyond.

The Construction Law Group includes a licensed civil engineer and construction engineer along with experienced trial and corporate attorneys. Services include:

Transactional:

• Contract negotiation and drafting
• Contract and bid preparation
• Advice regarding project administration
• Provide counsel on lending and financing for construction projects
• Advice on land use, zoning and governmental development approvals
• Advice on LEED and green certification issues
• Construction contract review and arbitration clause design

Litigation:

• Construction dispute resolution
• Arbitrations, Mediations, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Case Resolution
• Job close-outs and settlements
• Contract, delay and inefficiency grants
• Government contacts (bid protests and board of contract appeals claims)
• Terminations
• Mechanic's liens and security
• Defective design claims
• Bid protests

Representative Matters:

• Prevailed in a 3+ week arbitration matter in San Diego, California in a case involving $10-15 million in claimed damages. A California-based professional engineering and quality assurance company sued our engineering firm client for $8-10 million for breach of contract and other related intellectual property claims. On behalf of our client, we counterclaimed seeking approximately $1.9 million for services rendered, plus interest, costs and attorney's fees. The arbitrator ruled in favor of our client on all counts and awarded our client $3.6+ million in damages without any award for our adversary.
  
• Represented a major lending institution during the financing of a construction loan for a green, state-of-the-art energy sustainable building on a brownfields site in Concord, New Hampshire. The Construction Law Group assisted the bank during the various phases of construction, including detailed review of lender risks in a fast-track to accommodate the limited New England building season.
  
• Represented a privately-held credit card processing company with the negotiation and documentation of construction management, design and third-party inspection and certification services for the substantial renovation of the Portland Public Market building into Gold LEED certified offices, with space for about 215 employees. The construction management documents were also coordinated with environmental and real estate restrictions on the real estate.
  
• Won a jury verdict of nearly $1 million in Vermont Federal Court for a general contractor following wrongful termination from construction of large commercial landfill.
  
• Won summary judgment in Federal Court on behalf of commercial contractor in "Miller Act" case resulting in substantial damage award, plus attorney fees, in construction dispute arising out of U.S. Navy contract for aircraft hangar renovations at Brunswick Naval Air Station.
  
• Represented a major defense contractor in designing a unique set of construction management documents for a two hull warship assembly facility spanning project conceptualization, design, bid and construction, with detailed provisions for owner exits, shareline savings and other specialized features.
  
• Provided advice to a major state agency on resolution of major change order disputes, vendor solvency issues and other completion facilitation tasks for a major technology development and construction install project at multiple locations in the state.
  
• Obtained summary judgment for national retail chain against subcontractor's mechanic's liens when General Contractor abandoned project.
  
• Managed termination of General Contractor and obtained advantageous settlement for client.
  
• Prevented termination on behalf of General Contractor at major resort and negotiated completion of project and advantageous settlement.
  
• Successfully litigated a $1.1 million injunction trial in prosecuting a large road paving client for delay and defective plans and specifications against the State of Connecticut.
  
• Successfully perfected a $55 million mechanics lien against a developer in the State of Connecticut.
  
• Advantageously settled defective plan and specification claim for an international General Contractor concern against an arm of the federal government.