Court Opinions

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…

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.

In September, a California Appeals Court sent shockwaves through the construction community when it ruled that a subcontractor’s claim on a public works payment bond was untimely because the subcontractor had prematurely served their stop notice, but untimely asserted their…

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…

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…

When evaluating a lawsuit on a surety bond, whether as the claimant or as the surety, one of the very first questions that attorneys always ask is “Is it timely?” If the answer is no, then that usually is the…

On July 30, 2014, a California Appeals Court issued an opinion which reaffirms the difficulty that general contractors face in pursuing engineers and other design professionals for negligent work. In Atlas-Allied, Inc. v. San Diego Community College District, et al. (D061295) (Cal.…