Jordan R. Pavlus recently obtained summary judgment against a surety company on behalf of a construction material supplier. The surety company had posted a labor and material payment bond on a public project pursuant to the New York State Finance Law. The surety defended the action claiming it was not obligated to pay because the contractor had diverted materials to other job sites. Judge Thomas D. Nolan of the Saratoga County Supreme Court held that the material supplier was entitled to full payment from the surety because it supplied the materials in good faith, notwithstanding the fact that they could have been diverted. Judge Nolan also awarded interest and attorney’s fees pursuant to State Finance Law Section 137(4)(c).
Posted On: January 11, 2012
Jordan R. Pavlus recently obtained a judgment on behalf of a construction material supplier after a multiple day bench trial. The case turned on a “battle of the forms” analysis under the Uniform Commercial Code. Onondaga County Supreme Court Justice Donald A. Greenwood awarded the full amount sought in the complaint, in addition to attorney’s fees, interest and costs.
Posted On: May 4, 2011
Terry R. Pickard and Zea M. Wright obtained a $382,983 award in an arbitration conducted by the American Arbitration Association. The claim involved damages experienced by a steel contractor at a U.S. Border Crossing when work was delayed from the summer of 2008 to winter 2009. Damages were awarded for interference, loss of productivity and lost time for equipment.
Posted On: December 15, 2010
Terry R. Pickard successfully concluded a mediation between a site work contractor and a school district. The claim settled for $65,000 and involved damages sustained when the school district failed to make the site available to the client due to a delay caused by the general construction contractor.
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The motion sought to consolidate an action commenced in Ontario County with an action which was commenced approximately two weeks later in Tompkins County. The subcontractor commenced its action in Tompkins County because that was the location of the project and the venue required by the labor and material payment bond. The general contractor opposed the motion and sought to have venue place in Ontario County (where its principal place of business was located) on the basis that its action was commenced before the Tompkins County action. In a written decision, Judge M. John Sherman ruled that the actions would be consolidated and venue placed in Tompkins County because the subcontractor, as third party beneficiary, had the right to enforce the venue provision in the labor and material payment bond.
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Jordan Pavlus recently received a post trial decision from the Honorable Deborah H. Karalunas which found that a site work contractor was not at fault for breaching a utility line. The utility operator sued the utility marking company and the site work contractor for damages it sustained repairing the breached utility line. Judge Karalunas found that the utility marking company was 100% at fault in the post trial written decision.
Posted On: October 18, 2010
Jordan Pavlus recently obtained dismissal of a counterclaim interposed against a construction material supplier in Onondaga County Supreme Court which alleged that the supplier was responsible for delay damages imposed against the general contractor by the project owner. The counterclaim was dismissed in a written decision by Judge Greenwood pursuant to a Motion for Summary Judgment.
Posted On: July 26, 2010
Zea Wright lectures on Collections for the Onondaga County Bar Association CLE Program. Ms. Wright is a member of the firm’s construction law practice and practices collection law along with construction and general business law.
Posted On: April 19, 2010
Jordan Pavlus was recently granted a Motion to Dismiss filed on behalf of a material supplier in Oneida County Supreme Court. The Complaint alleged causes of action for negligence, breach of sale of goods and breach of implied and express warranties. Judge Bernadette Clark granted the Motion to Dismiss in all respects based on the applicable Statute of Limitations.
Posted On: March 5, 2010
Terry Pickard has been elected chairman elect of the Attorney’s Council of the American Subcontractors Association (“ASA”) to take office in San Diego in March 2010. The Attorney’s Council advises the ASA on legal issues affecting the subcontracting industry, including intervention in pending civil cases on an Amicus Brief basis.
Posted On: February 4, 2010
