Construction Law
Best & Flanagan’s seasoned construction litigation team adopts a novel approach to the resolution of construction claims: we listen to our clients, take a hard look at the facts and then act both boldly and nimbly to drive a resolution. Our team represents a wide range of parties in the construction industry: owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, risk managers and captive groups. We work on public, private, hybrid, commercial industrial and multi-family residential projects for both public and private and hybrid projects.
We proactively manage our clients’ issues through contract negotiations. We preserve and prosecute their rights to payment, address performance issues and resolve construction defect claims through direct negotiations, mediation, arbitration and litigation. While our clients and their work are varied, our goal is the same: deliver the best service.
We never follow a template when representing our construction clients. Instead, we approach each client and issue with the mindset of what is the best resolution and how can we best achieve that resolution. Our team draws from decades of experience that allows us to efficiently evaluate a situation, have a candid discussion with our clients about the strengths and weaknesses of their positions and develop an effective strategy to drive the matter to resolution. We are strong advocates and adept at achieving resolutions through direct negotiations; however, our team is comprised of litigators and we remained poised to try every case to judge or jury.
Experience
- Contract Negotiation
- Contract Disputes
- Bid Protests
- DOT Claims
- Construction Defect Claims
- Mechanic’s Liens
- Payment and Performance Bond Claims
- Payment Disputes
- OSHA Citations and Violations
- Personal Injury and Property Damage Defense
- Insurance coverage
Client Stories
A local construction attorney referred a general contractor that was facing termination for default on a project, a claim against its performance bond, back charges and claims for defective work. They had not been paid in quite some time. Our team stepped in and facilitated the agreement necessary to put the project back on track and procure payment for the client. We also retained world-class engineers to evaluate the project and determine the root causes of the alleged defective work. We used the expert reports to both defeat the claims of defective work and the claim against the performance bond, as well as to affirmatively pursue our client’s claims for payment. After intense negotiations, we were able to secure payment for our client, obtain a release of claims and avoid a protracted and costly arbitration. The intangible benefit of putting the matter behind them without a lengthy and highly contested arbitration meant almost as much to the client as the monetary result.
A highway heavy contractor turned to our team upon being notified of its award of a multi-million dollar contract. We immediately stepped in to review the proposed contract, negotiate out unfavorable and onerous provisions and obtain clarification on vague, ambiguous or conflicting provisions, which the Owner readily supplied to avoid misunderstandings on the project. We also educated our client about key contract provisions, especially those pertaining to notice, that require strict adherence or the right to payment or an extension of time is waived. Our actions were simple and we perform them for clients on projects of every size and magnitude. For this client, our involvement helped them to better understand their rights and obligations under the contract, avoid problems from the onset, and deliver a much better project.
