2025 Texas legislature makes fewer changes to construction law than in recent years
9/29/25
By: Lauren Mabie and Patrick T. Mulry
Following two special sessions, the Texas legislature recently recessed from its bi-annual convocation. Unlike legislative sessions earlier this decade that made substantial changes in Texas construction law, this legislature saw fewer construction-law related …
Use it or lose it: Don’t wait to assert right to compel arbitration
8/13/25
By: Patrick T. Mulry
Arbitration of construction defect claims – especially residential homeowner claims – has recently become fertile ground for appellate decisions in Texas; at least six opinions in June 2025 are related to denials by a trial court …
Tennessee’s Statute of Repose: A possible exception for construction and maintenance contracts
7/17/25
By: Ella A. Bishop
In Tri-State Insurance Company of Minnesota A/S/O Campus Chalet, Inc. v. East Tennessee Sprinkler Company, Inc., 2024 WL 5088467 (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 12, 2024), the Tennessee Court of Appeals addressed whether Tennessee’s Statute of …
6/11/25
By: Jason M. Pannu
On Thursday, 5 June 2025, the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued an opinion involving a unique shipping container apartment project in Nashville, Tennessee. The case – 83 Freight LLC v. C4 Sourcing Solutions LLC et al. …
Unreposed: No rest after six years in Massachusetts
5/13/25
In a pivotal decision for construction law in Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently addressed the application of the state’s statute of repose in Trustees of Boston University v. Clough, Harbour & Associates LLP. …
Artful pleading counterfeited by Texas Supreme Court’s adoption of anti-fracturing rule
4/24/25
By: Emaan Ali Bangash and Patrick T. Mulry
In its recent ruling that the anti-fracturing rule applies broadly to professional malpractice cases, the Texas Supreme Court has affirmed the bedrock principle that the law should not reward artful pleading. While …
3/25/25
By: Noël Couch, Joshua G. Ferguson, Kevin G. Kenneally, Mike J. Rigelsky and Kevin M. Ringel
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell) are conducting a new study to assess per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) …
Ohio court addresses unforeseen circumstances provision in construction contract
2/18/25
By: Catherine A. Bednar, Doug Holthus, and Aaron N. Kaeser
In Mt. Pleasant Blacktopping Co., Inc. v. Inverness Group, Inc., 2025-Ohio-285 (1st Dist.), Inverness Group, Inc. (“Developer”) had retained Mt. Pleasant Blacktopping Co., Inc. (“Contractor”) for the …
1/2/25
By: Doug Holthus and Aaron N. Kaeser
In Hartford Fire Insurance Co. v. DeBra-Kuempel Inc., 2024-Ohio-5830, Ohio’s First Appellate District interpreted, and found enforceable, an insurance policy’s waiver of subrogation provision. Though a predictable outcome, the decision in DeBra-Kuempel …
New Jersey’s ongoing storm rule does not include duty to pretreat
11/14/24
The Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division, recently affirmed summary judgment in favor of the defense in a slip and fall case involving analysis of the ongoing storm rule. Plaintiff filed suit against multiple parties, …
Controlling a nuisance: Can design professionals be held liable for nuisance?
10/3/24
By: L. David McCollum and Zachary H. Waldrop
Design professionals are not typically named as defendants on nuisance claims arising out of construction projects. However, plaintiffs are increasingly attempting to bring nuisance claims against design professionals on the basis that …
Pennsylvania contractors protected by hills and ridges doctrine
9/30/24
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed summary judgment in favor of the defense in a slip and fall case involving “dangerous, icy” conditions. Plaintiff filed suit against multiple parties, including the property owner/landlord, the property manager, …