Consequential Damages in Today’s Construction Industry
Pittsburgh partner Jason Richey recently teamed up with associate Bill Wickard to write “Consequential Damages in Today’s Construction Industry,” which appears in the May 5, 2008 issue of Constructioneer.
In the article, Jason and Bill stress the importance of project-specific consequential damages waivers, noting that f ailure to include such a waiver can leave construction managers open to costly lawsuits. Waivers should be both "project-specific" (anticipating the potential types of damages that could arise with a certain project) and mutual (the list of damages should be the same for the owner and contractor).
Jason and Bill point to Perini Corp. v. Greater Bay Hotel & Casino to illustrate the importance of these waivers. In the Perini case, the construction manager responsible for the renovation of the Sands, an Atlantic City, N.J. hotel and casino, produced his façade for the building four months late. The original contract did not include a damages waiver and the Sands argued that their lost profits were due to the lateness of the façade. An arbitration panel awarded the Sands $14.5 million in damages, nearly 24 times the contract fee.
To read the full article, please click here (posted with permission).