Construction Law in North Carolina | The ORIGINAL blog for architects, engineers, designers, other

Time 2020-10-24 07:03:25

Web Name: Construction Law in North Carolina | The ORIGINAL blog for architects, engineers, designers, other

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Construction Law in North CarolinaThe ORIGINAL blog for architects, engineers, designers, other construction professionalsThis summer, I had the fortune of taking a trip to Europe.   The first place I visited was Amsterdam.  A lovely town with a lot of culture and more canals than you can shake a stick at.  I was meeting family there, but had hours to kill ahead of time.  So, I decided to take the train from the airport into the City Centre, leave my bags at the train station luggage locker, and begin exploring.My plan took its first misstep when I attempted to board the train.  Not being in a hurry, I let the other passengers get on first.  Sure, I noticed the train conductor blowing his whistle while I stepped onto the train, but figured I was fine since I was already on the steps up.  Until, that is, the door began to close, with me in the doorway, suitcase in the train, one foot inside, and one foot mid step up to the cabin.   The door closed on my backpack (which was still on my back), but I managed to force it into the train compartment.  My shoe, however, was not quite as lucky.  Part of my shoe made it inside, and part was outside the door.The shoe in the doorwayNo worry just look for the door release mechanism, right?  Wrong!  There was none.  The train started up, with my shoe still halfway in and halfway out of the train.  (Luckily my foot itself made it inside all in one piece).  The conductor came along to scold me, and told me that he could *probably* rescue my shoe once we got to Central Station.  In the meantime, I sat on a nearby jump seat, keeping tabs on my shoe and  fuming that this was *not* the way I planned to start my vacation.  Long story short the train conductor was able to salvage my shoe, but not without a lot of commentary on how I should never have boarded the train after the whistle blew.  Lesson learned.HOW, you may ask, does my shoe tale relate to your construction project?  It s in the title:  never, ever, ever (ever, ever, ever) make assumptions.  I made the unfortunate assumption that the train doors in Europe would release when met with any type of obstacle, since they tend to do that here.You make that assumption when you do projects for clients without a formal letter or contract outlining your scope of work.  Sure, you ve worked with a client before, and know what he wants.  But maybe times have changed, or management has a new policy in place.  Maybe in the past, you could simply email the client that you needed to increase your hourly rates.  Now, you are required to keep the same hourly rates for the entire project.   Unless, that is, you already planned for regular increases in your contract itself.Or, maybe you are working with a new owner client.  That owner may assume that you will do certain things for your fixed rate, that are not standard and were never even on your radar.  Do you have exclusions to your Scope of Work in the contract?  If so, you are set.  Point the client there, and you should be done.  Or, you could be like me, and go shoeless into the City.  Your choice!Have you ever made an unfortunate assumption?  If you did and lived to tell the tale, share in the comments below or drop me a line.  I want to know that I m not the only want that has stuff like this happening to them!!!“It’s one thing to erroneously tell someone to drive through a lake.  It’s quite another to drive someone through a lake.”  So explains fictional Civil Engineer Jake Bendel when discussing the need for complete accuracy in a fully automated highway system in the “civil engineer thriller” Civil Terror:  Gridlock by J. Luke Bennecke.  In Gridlock, Bennecke, a civil engineer in real life, describes a near-future in which traffic accidents and heavy commutes are a thing of the past, thanks to a “100% accurate” roadway system of self-driving cars which utilize GPS, cell-phone pings, and a loosely-described “proprietary system” of tracking signals.Things are going along well until a terrorist devises a scheme to kill thousands of commuters by subverting the computer code and causing massive traffic accidents all up and down the California highway system.  Thanks to planted evidence by the terrorist, the FBI suspects Jake and not the true villain.  What follows is a fun crime-thriller-esque novel in which Jake proves to be the unlikely hero.In the novel, Bennecke explores the realities of a fully-automated traffic system (versus the current one-car-at-a-time system), and the tremendous benefits that could result.  It is also a fun read, especially for civil engineers and those that love them.  As fictional Jake in the novel points out, “[N]obody wants to read a technical thesis about the gritty details of fully automating cars and trucks on freeways…. Unless they were having a hard time going to sleep, ‘cause that would certainly do the trick.”  Instead, Jake in the novel, and Bennecke in real life, pens a novel where the civil engineer gets to wear the hero’s cape, vanquish the bad guy, and save the day.This book is not an in-depth discussion of the engineering, legal, and insurance implications of self-driving cars.  Instead, it is a fun, quick read where the engineering concept is simply one of many plot points.  Even so, this might be novel as a gift for the favorite civil engineer in your own life!  (after all, Mother s/Father s Day is coming!!]Have you thought about fully-automated highway systems?  See the promise/problems?  Share in the comment section.[Editor s note:  I received a review copy of this book for consideration, but will not receive any benefit if you purchase it].Certificates of Merit  are documents intended to show that a true issue exists with a professional s work, prior to that person being sued.  While North Carolina does require that a person suing a medical provider first have the matter reviewed by a professional (and attest to that in the Complaint), there is no requirement for any review prior to a lawsuit against an architect, engineer, or surveyor.  Thus, anyone can file a lawsuit against an engineer/architect/surveyor without first having their case eyeballed reviewed by another professional. Over the years, there have been attempts at adding a Certificate of Merit requirement to design professional lawsuits.  See, for example, examples here: from 2005; from 2007;  from 2011; and from 2013.While many states do have Certificates of Merit for lawsuits against licensed design professionals, North Carolina, to date, does not.  This is a shame, because having a professional review a potential error *before* a party spends the time and money to file a lawsuit, can only help eliminate frivolous, merit-less claims.   To win a lawsuit against a design professional, a party will need to have an expert testify that they were negligent.  The Certificate of Merit just ensures that there truly is a valid dispute before a design professional s name and reputation get pulled into expensive, perhaps unnecessary, litigation.Would a requirement for a Certificate of Merit eliminate unnecessary claims?  Perhaps not.  But, it gives all parties an honest first look at the alleged design errors before the lawyers sharpen their claws begin filing their lawsuits.Share your thoughts on such certificates in the comments, below.Recently a client asked me to review a contract for his Firm.  The Owner, who had prepared the draft, had inserted a rather stringent “duty to defend” clause.As I told my client, a duty to defend clause is not a good idea for a couple of reasons.  First, if you agree to provide a defense, what that means is that you are footing the bill for the Owner if the Owner is sued by another party.  Think about that for a minute.  You are paying legal fees for someone else’s legal defense.  You may or may not be able to direct the litigation or have a say in who is hired.  Can you say open check book?Secondly, and more importantly, the duty to defend is almost never insurable.  What that means is that your professional liability carrier will not be footing the bill—your Firm will be doing it.  This is not a case of adding the Owner as an additional insured, so do not confuse the two.  Agreeing to a duty to defend is an extremely burdensome, and potentially costly, mistake.What do you do if your Owner is insisting on such a clause?  Try to get the clause written out of the contract, period.  Point out to your Owner that it is not covered by your professional errors  omissions policy.  That alone is often enough to get Owners to agree.  You might also contact your insurance carrier/agent to add weight to your statement.  They can point to the provisions in the policy that will likely exclude coverage.If the Owner will not strike the provision, then what?  Seriously think about whether this is a risk you can afford to take.   What type of project is it?   Do you know the contractor and other parties—are they reputable and qualified?  And most importantly, is the profit to your Firm such to justify the potential risk.  Usually, the answer to the last question is no.Have you seen a duty to defend in an Owner contract?  Did you agree to it?  Share in the comments below, or drop me an email.Photo: (c) MatthiasKabel via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.Welcome to a new year!  By now, you ve eaten the last of the Christmas cookies, opened all of your presents, and rung in 2019.  Back to business, right?  The new year is always a good time to remind your employees, and yourself, that there are no shortcuts on the success train.Sure, you can sometimes skate by for awhile, but karma has a way of catching up with you.One thing to keep in mind is that if you practice in multiple states: be sure you are well aware of the rules and regulations concerning your license in each state.   Each state does things a little differently, and what may be perfectly acceptable in one state may not be in another state.For example, I had an out of state professional design firm that was unaware of the supervision requirements of non-professional staff that is required under North Carolina law.  Another client had some North Carolina references on its website without an appropriate disclaimer as to who was, and who was not, licensed in North Carolina.  In both of those cases, I was able to help the professional firms get out from under the violations with minimal damage, but it cost time, money, and aggravation.Do violations always get discovered?  Not always, but- like speeding a violation is a violation is a violation, and at some point, your number may be up.Save yourself the headache, bite the bullet, and make sure you retain competent professionals in *each* state that you are licensed in make sure that you are playing by that state s rules before you work in that state.  (Obviously, if you have North Carolina questions, I d love to work with you!)You ll thank me later.Your turn.  Have you ever been surprised to learn about a state s specific requirements after you ve already violated those requirements?  Anonymous confessions encouraged let s learn from each other!  (or, drop me an email!)Search Construction Law NC BlogSearchSubscribe to Blog via EmailEnter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address Subscribe Get your FREE white paper, 7 Critical Mistakes that Engineers Architects make During Project Negotiation and Execution that Sabotage their Projects Invite Litigation, by signing up below. First NameLast NameCompanyEmail You will also receive our newsletter, The Construction Professional, filled with useful tips & news.Who am I? My name is Melissa Dewey Brumback, and I represent architects, engineers, designers, and other construction professionals in construction disputes throughout North Carolina. I am a partner at Ragsdale Liggett PLLC where, in addition to my work for A/E professionals, I also handle complex commercial, business litigation, and other professional malpractice matters.Categories contracts (107)damages (68)law notes (164)misc. (39)news (41)tips (166)

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