Christopher D. Cazenave | Jones Walker Last year, my construction colleague Neal Sweeney and I presented on a topic that is still a widely discussed question in the construction industry: who really pays for defective design? Despite contractual mechanisms to deal with them, defective design and changed (or differing site) conditions remain the most unexpected and unwelcome… Continue reading The Unexpected And Unwelcome: Defective Design And Changed Conditions Disputes
Category: Design Professionals
The Unauthorized Use of Architect Drawings or Plans: Is it Theft?
Marisol Garcia and Steve Lindemann | Stinson OVERVIEW Recently, the California Court of Appeals in Simmons v. Ehm Architecture, Inc., No. D080702, 2023 WL 8888228 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. Dec, 26, 2023) (unpublished), held that an owner giving his architect’s plans to another architect without the first architect’s consent for the new architect to complete… Continue reading The Unauthorized Use of Architect Drawings or Plans: Is it Theft?
Potential Liability Arising from Value Engineering
William J. Tinsley, Jr. | Phelps Dunbar Value engineering (VE) is intended to be a shared effort among the design professionals, the construction team and the project owner to enhance the performance and efficiency of a project during the design process. In true VE, the project’s lead design professionals carefully vet, compare and incorporate good… Continue reading Potential Liability Arising from Value Engineering
Mitigating the Risks of Delegated Design
Francisco Matta | HKA The use of delegated design in construction, where a project’s design professional of record (DPR) assigns responsibility for a specific part of the design to the contractor, is on the rise throughout the industry. This approach, historically limited in practice to a narrow set of specialized elements like steel stairs and… Continue reading Mitigating the Risks of Delegated Design
Courthouse Reporter Series: Two Recent Cases Address Copyright Protection for Architectural Works
Stu Richeson | The Dispute Resolver Recent decisions by the Seventh Circuit and the Eight Circuit have addressed the scope of protection afforded to architectural works under copyright law. The Seventh Circuit case of Design Basics, LLC v. Signature Constr., Inc., 994 F.3d 879 (7th Cir. 2021), took a somewhat narrow view of the copyright protection afforded… Continue reading Courthouse Reporter Series: Two Recent Cases Address Copyright Protection for Architectural Works