Court Opinions

The Subletting and Subcontracting Fair Practices Act, also known as the Subcontractor Listing Law, allows a direct contractor to request a substitution of a subcontractor from a public owner. The Subcontractor Listing Law, however, is silent as to whether the…

The Court of Appeals for the 5th District examined the difference between "design" and"performance" specifications in connection with a project at the University of California, Merced.Berkeley Cement, Inc.was awarded the low bid for the structural concrete work on the new…

The California Supreme Court recently ruled online forums such as Yelp are not legally required to remove negative posts, even if they are found to be defamatory. The case (available here) involved a law firm whose former client published a series…

In an April 30, 2018 decision by the California Supreme Court, dealing with the issue of whether a delivery drivers' class should be decertified, the Court addressed with the factors that should be applied to determine if a worker was…

May a contractor withhold retention payments when there is a good faith dispute of any kind between the contractor and a subcontractor not involving the retention itself?The California Supreme Court has said no in the recently decided case of United…

Recently, we have seen an increase in legal rulings related to contractor conflict of interest in public works projects.

In a recent Appellate Court decision, Flintco Pacific, Inc. v. TEC Management Consultants, Inc., a California court addressed the issue of when a general contractor is reasonable in relying on a subcontractor’s bid.

On January 23, 2015, the Second District Court of Appeal reaffirmed the use of the Lease/Leaseback delivery method on public works projects.Lease/Leaseback projects are built pursuant to the requirements of Education Code section17406, which authorizes school district governing boards, without advertising…

In a major victory for both general contractors and their subcontractors, a California appellate court has ruled that a public entity cannot withhold contract funds from a general contractor simply due to a dispute over the original price of the…