Practice Areas
Construction Law
Our construction attorneys have professional backgrounds in architecture, city planning, and engineering. We handle all aspects of construction law and litigation for clients from all segments of the industry, including owners, lenders, developers, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, design professionals and sureties. Our services include:
Contract Drafting and Negotiation. We handle negotiations and drafting of construction agreements, including those using more standardized forms from the American Institute of Architects, Associated General Contractors, Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee and forms utilized by federal and state governmental entities. We also prepare custom-tailored agreements for large, complex commercial projects, as well as more straightforward residential projects. We have consulted on construction contracts for a wide array of projects, including sports stadiums, industrial plants, health care facilities, commercial projects, public projects, and custom homes.
Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution. We have itigation experience in state and federal courts, both at trial and on appeal. Issues litigated include payment disputes, acceleration and delay claims, construction defects, material failures, labor disputes, contract interpretation, and various other problems that arise in construction projects of all sizes. We have been involved in cases on industrial plants, jail facilities, parking decks, large industrial boilers, multi-family housing projects, warehouse facilities, and commercial developments. Our Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) experience includes mediation and arbitration before the American Arbitration Association, as well as a number of private dispute resolution services. We have resolved, using ADR, such matters as construction claims involving terminations, change order pricing, differing site conditions, mechanics’/materialmen’s liens, bid issues, and construction/design defects.
Liens, Bonds, and Other Payment Remedies. We regularly provide services with respect to all aspects of mechanics' and materialmen's liens, including preparing and filing lien notices, prosecuting lien enforcement actions,protecting owners from lien filings by bonds or other methods, and asserting or defending claims on payment and performance bonds, including Miller Act bonds. We handle matters involving Prompt Pay Act claims and claims under various state trust fund statutes.
Commitment to the Industry. We are actively involved in industry associations, such as the Associated General Contractors, American Institute of Architects, Construction Specifications Institute, and the Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel. We regularly present seminars on subjects including construction law, construction contracts, lien law, payment remedies, toxic mold, and alternative dispute resolution. We have consulted on other topics, including LEED standards, sustainable design and construction, Consensus DOCS, and building information modeling (BIM).
Recent Representative Matters
- Provided full range of owner-contractor agreements for separate prime contractors for owner of major automobile assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee
- Prepared owner-contractor agreement for construction of a manufacturer's research and development facility and multiple production facilities in Chattanooga, Virginia, Arkansas and Arizona
- Negotiated and prepared numerous agreements for placing and reconfiguring equipment, including large industrial ovens, an automated order-packing and shipping facility, packaging and distribution equipment and conveying systems and other assembly line equipment for a nationally recognized snack food manufacturer in various plants
- Prepared owner-contractor agreement for the construction of Finley Stadium, a multi-use football stadium in downtown Chattanooga
- Provided services in connection with Owner Controlled Insurance Programs, Contractor Controlled Insurance Programs and other project-specific, tailored insurance programs in large construction projects
- Assisted the owner in contract negotiations for the owner-contractor agreement for Bellsouth Park, the downtown baseball stadium for Chattanooga's minor league baseball team
- Successfully mediated and resolved a dispute over extra-contractual and change order work on a large industrial carbon fiber manufacturing facility
- Filed suit and then resolved claims for extra-contractual work on the recovery steam piping and related work at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Alabama.