Blog.
Risk Management for Architects and Engineers Part 7: Professional Liability Insurance Exclusions
November 30th, 2015
Design professionals should not agree to meet certain performance criteria or otherwise impose upon themselves an elevated standard of care, particularly in light of numerous professional liability insurance exclusions. But the exclusions don’t end…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog
Risk Management for Architects and Engineers Part 6: Professional Liability Insurance Exclusions
November 16th, 2015
The past several posts have focused on risk management for design professionals. Today, I plan to illustrate another reason why you should beware of contractually undertaking a higher duty, namely professional liability insurance exclusions. Professi…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog
Risk Management for Architects and Engineers Part 5: Specifications
November 2nd, 2015
Specifications and risk management go hand-in-hand for design professionals. I briefly touched on this subject in my July 28, 2015 risk management presentation to the Alabama Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in Orange Beach, AL. Unb…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog
Risk Management for Architects and Engineers Part 4: Indemnification Provisions
October 19th, 2015
Virtually all professional services agreements contain an indemnification provision. On July 28, 2015, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Alabama Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in Orange Beach, AL about indemnification as part…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog
Risk Management for Architects and Engineers Part 3: Architects and Engineers Can Make Warranties Too!
October 5th, 2015
Ordinarily, under the common law standard of care, architects and engineers (“design professionals”) do not warrant that their work will be perfect or error-free (see September 7, 2015 post). However, design professionals can change that. On July…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog
Risk Management for Architects and Engineers Part 2: An Elevated Standard of Care
September 21st, 2015
The last post discussed the common law standard of care for design professionals. That standard can be elevated by contract, statute, building codes, ordinances and other regulations. On July 28, 2015, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Alabama Se…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog
Risk Management for Engineers and Architects Part 1: The Standard of Care
September 7th, 2015
When engineers and architects (“design professionals”) perform their respective professional services, their conduct is judged against the standard of care. The term “standard” is somewhat of a misnomer because the standard of care by which a…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog
Failure to Procure Insurance is a Breach of Contract
August 24th, 2015
The failure to perform all of your contractual obligations is a breach of contract. Absent some excuse that discharges performance, the breaching party is liable for all damages resulting from the failure to perform its contractual obligations. When…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog
A Force Majeure Clause Should Be Project Specific
July 13th, 2015
A “Force Majeure Clause” is a “a contractual provision allocating the risk of loss if performance becomes impossible or impracticable, esp. as a result of an event or effect that the parties could not have anticipated or controlled (emphasis ad…
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Categories: Alabama Construction Law Blog