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DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

(Don’t) Go Fish

May 12, 2025 — Daniel Lund III - Lexology
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana faced significant discovery challenges in a complex trade secrets dispute initiated by a general contractor against several defendants, including former employees of the general contractor. The contractor alleged that defendants misappropriated confidential customer lists, pricing strategies, and business plans in order to unfairly compete against the contractor. The contractor sought and was granted immediate injunctive relief, and, as the case progressed, the court implemented a protective order and a forensic protocol to manage the exchange and examination of the alleged misappropriated information. Despite these measures, discovery quickly became contentious. One critical ruling on a motion to compel involved defendants’ suggestions that the contractor had not adequately protected trade secrets -- and defendants’ request for information from the contractor on the topic. The court found no substantial evidence of improper disclosures and ruled that requiring a contractor to review all its documents for potential external disclosures was disproportionate – without tangible evidence of such actions (the court emphasizing the necessity of specificity in discovery requests to avoid undue burdens). In connection therewith, the court also examined the contractor’s efforts to protect its trade secrets, which the court found adequate. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Daniel Lund III, Phelps
Mr. Lund may be contacted at daniel.lund@phelps.com

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Urban Retrofits, Tall Buildings, and Sustainability

January 14, 2025 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
As I took a small break between cases and contract reviews, an article in the November 2, 2009 issue of ENR Magazine caught my eye. The article discusses the efforts of a Chicago architect to create a holistic approach to the renovation and “de-carbonization” of the Chicago Loop area. The plan involves large scale energy retrofits and sustainable reuse of Chicago’s tall buildings. Another interesting aspect of this article points out that tall buildings in general have hit the construction skids in the US and Latin America, this is not the case in Europe and the Middle East. However, those buildings that are going up (and up and up) are trying to go “green.” Several of the worlds tallest buildings, or soon to be so, are seeking LEED gold or platinum certification. These two trends, in my view, are healthy. First of all, much like the goal of Build2Sustain, the Chicago effort is a move toward sustainable reuse and retrofit/renovation. I see this as a great trend and a way to perform the “Three R’s” (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), by reusing existing building materials and footprints without the cost and use of newer materials from tear downs and rebuilds. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

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Let’s Get Specific: Rhode Island Court Asserts Jurisdiction Over Out-of-State Manufacturer

February 04, 2025 — Gus Sara - The Subrogation Strategist
In Federal Ins. Co. v. J. Gallant Elec. Servs., Inc. No. 1-22- CV-00123-MSM-LDA, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218185, the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island considered whether it could exercise personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state, third-party defendant. The court granted the third-party defendant’s first motion to dismiss for lack of general jurisdiction but permitted the parties to conduct jurisdictional discovery. After the close of jurisdictional discovery, the third-party defendant renewed its motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. This time, the court found that, based on the record, it could exercise specific personal jurisdiction over the third-party defendant. The plaintiff, Federal Insurance Company (Insurer), brought this subrogation action after its insured, the Town of Westerly, sustained a water loss at a public elementary school in 2020. The water loss occurred while the school was undergoing renovations. A defendant, Advanced Safety Systems (Advanced), was retained to replace the fire suppression system in the computer server room. Advanced subcontracted with defendant J. Gallant Electrical Services (Gallant) to replace the electrical service panel for the sprinkler system. Gallant was in process of deenergizing the fire suppression system when the system discharged, causing damage to the equipment in the server room. After paying its insured for the damage, Insurer sued Advanced and Gallant for negligence and breach of contract, alleging that Gallant was careless in causing the system to discharge. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Gus Sara, White and Williams
Mr. Sara may be contacted at sarag@whiteandwilliams.com

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Congratulations to Las Vegas Partner Jeff Saab and Associate Shanna Carter on Another Big Win at Arbitration!

April 15, 2025 — Dolores Montoya - Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara LLP
The case arose from a motor vehicle versus motor vehicle accident wherein the Plaintiff, a driver, and her passenger alleged that the compact vehicle was t-boned in an intersection, resulting in severe and permanent physical injury. Jeff and Shanna’s client, driving a commercial vehicle, was headed north when he approached the intersection and observed that the traffic lights were malfunctioning. Consequently, he came to a complete stop and then entered the intersection, at which point a collision occurred with Plaintiffs’ vehicle, which was headed west. Plaintiffs argued that their traffic light was functioning correctly, that they had the right of way, and that Jeff and Shanna’s client failed to yield, causing the collision. However, under examination, Jeff and Shanna were able to impeach both Plaintiffs multiple times and elicited testimony from the Plaintiff driver that Jeff and Shanna’s client entered the intersection first and, therefore, had the right of way. Based on Plaintiffs’ testimony and other evidence presented during arbitration, the arbitrator was compelled to adopt the arguments of the defense, resulting in a complete defense award. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Dolores Montoya, Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara LLP

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Traub Lieberman Partner Jonathan Harwood Wins Motion for Summary Judgment in Favor of Insurer

April 01, 2025 — Jonathan R. Harwood - Traub Lieberman
In this matter brought before the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Traub Lieberman Partner Jonathan Harwood prevailed on a motion for partial summary judgment in favor of an insurance company in a dispute between multiple insurers regarding the extent of each insurer’s obligation to defend and indemnify a construction company in an alleged workplace injury claim. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jonathan R. Harwood, Traub Lieberman
Mr. Harwood may be contacted at jharwood@tlsslaw.com

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Wilke Fleury ranked in Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms!!

December 03, 2024 — Wilke Fleury LLP
Wilke Fleury is pleased to announce its inclusion in the 2025 edition of ‘Best Law Firms’ ranked by Best Lawyers! Firms included in the 2025 “Best Law Firms” list are recognized for professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Wilke Fleury LLP

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2025 Construction Outlook: Growth, But Uneven in Certain Areas

March 04, 2025 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
I think it’s safe to say that we’re well past any lingering economic impacts of COVID-19 although it has undoubtedly left an indelible imprint on the lives of many, including those still working remotely as reflected in the empty office spaces around the country. But with Trump 2.0 now here, new uncertainties face the country and the construction industry as President Trump imposes tariffs on goods and materials, cracks down on immigration, and attempts to shrink the government’s footprint. While President Trump and his proteges (e.g., Elon Musk) have been dominating the news headlines since the end of January, according to Dodge Construction Network’s “Outlook2025,” notably issued in November 2024 before the new administration took office, believes that “the change in administration is unlikely to have considerable impact on the construction forecast.” Rather, according Dodge (not to be confused with “DOGE“), “[p]erhaps most significant for the construction outlook is the Federal Reserve’s changing stance on interest rates,” referring to the Fed’s rate cuts in 2024 which totaled 1 percentage point, which it believes “will begin to positively impact the economy, particularly in interest-rate-sensitive industries such as construction, during 2025.” Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

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Five Kahana Feld Attorneys Selected to 2025 Southern California Super Lawyers List

March 04, 2025 — Linda Carter - Kahana Feld
Kahana Feld is pleased to announce that partners Avi Attal, Ron Brand, Jason Feld, Amir Kahana, and Sharon Oh-Kubisch were selected to the 2025 Southern California Super Lawyers list. Avi Attal is co-chair of Kahana Feld’s Labor & Employment Counseling and Litigation Group and trial counsel for the firm’s General Liability Group. An experienced trial lawyer, Attal has represented clients through every part of the employment dispute process, including compliance consultations, pre-litigation investigations, DFEH & EEOC investigations, worker compensation disputes, Department of Industrial Relations hearings, mediations, binding arbitrations, bench trials, jury trials, and appeals. Ron Brand is co-chair of Kahana Feld’s Labor & Employment Counseling and Litigation Group, where he provides legal guidance and representation to employers in all aspects of labor and employment law, including defense against federal and state-based wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment, discrimination, wage and hour, whistleblower, defamation, breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, and other similar claims. He also provides preventive counseling and advice to employers on a wide variety of human resources and personnel issues. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Linda Carter, Kahana Feld
Ms. Carter may be contacted at lcarter@kahanafeld.com

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