Advise & Consult, Inc. | September 14, 2015<\/p>\n
Construction defect suits have been on the decline recently as many of the construction issues from the last building wave have been litigated or otherwise addressed. Portland, among many other cities across the US, finds itself in yet another building boom cycle which is certain to result in yet another round of defects.\u00a0 Anticipating the inevitable, local professionals are gearing up to help building owners, property managers, condo associations and home owners deal with construction defects and insurance disputes that proliferate when contractors and designers get busy and cut corners, or just make a mistake.<\/p>\n
On Friday, construction attorneys, building experts and insurance adjusters attended the Northwest\u2019s Premier Construction Defect and Dispute Conference (CDDC) <\/em>in downtown Portland.\u00a0 The conference, sponsored by Advise and Consult Inc., was geared toward bringing the Northwest\u2019s construction claim professionals up to speed on current industry trends, recent case law developments and to provide insight as to what can be expected after this next round of construction mayhem.\u00a0 Advise and Consult has 27 independent construction experts around the country including local Portland expert Caleb Beaudin and Seattle expert James Platt.\u00a0 Fourteen keynote speakers from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah made the trip to Portland, each contributing unique insight to round out the full day session.<\/p>\n According to Beaudin, a physicist, contractor and local building consultant, many construction defects come and go with the new building products flavor of the month.\u00a0 \u201cHistorically and categorically, I put defects into three buckets,\u201d says Beaudin.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFirst off there are defects that cause damage from the inside out,\u00a0 such as the aluminum wiring substitution of the 1960\u2019s that caused many structure fires and polybutylene piping prominent in the 1970\u2019 that often deteriorated within a decade resulting in the re-plumbing of over 330,000 homes.\u00a0 Then of course you have the pollutant products that cause illness or worse to humans, such as lead based paint and asbestos containing materials.\u00a0 These products were prominent up through the early 1980\u2018s.\u00a0 Finally in bucket three, what we\u2019ve seen consistently these past twenty five years are cladding and envelope assemblies that allow building damage from the outside in.\u201d\u00a0 Commenting on the local defect trends, Beaudin continued \u201cDue to our climate and the tightening of building envelopes, the Northwest has seen ongoing water damage, from vapor barriers trapping moisture in wall assemblies to the EIFS stucco and LP siding debacles of recent years.\u201d\u00a0 Beaudin\u2019s company provides inspection and consulting services to home and building owners who suspect faulty construction, moisture intrusion or other damages related to their homes or buildings.<\/p>\n Highlighting Friday\u2019s conference was the Northwest\u2019s Young Attorney of the Year award presented to construction attorney Adele Ridenour of the Portland based firm Ball Janik, LLP.\u00a0 The award was the first of its kind and was awarded based on peer nomination.\u00a0 Ridenour, a former Green<\/em> Building<\/em> adjunct professor for the University of Oregon School of Law, primarily represents owners in construction defect and insurance recovery related claims.\u00a0 While Ridenour could be considered young on the attorney career timescale, she is no spring chicken when it comes to awards.\u00a0 In 2014 and 2015 she was selected as one of the \u2018Top 40 Under 40 Litigation Lawyers\u2019 by American Society of Legal Advocates.\u00a0 She was also recognized by her peers as an Oregon Super Lawyer from 2013 – 2015 in the area of Construction Litigation.\u00a0 \u201cThe number of parties involved and overall complexity of construction defect lawsuits requires constant innovation to find the approach which best serves our client’s individual and unique interests.\u201d said Ridenour.\u00a0 Outside of work, Ridenour is heavily involved in the community participating in outreach events by non-profit organizations such as Bienstar and Habitat for Humanity.<\/p>\n Event founder Eugene Peterson, aided by Beaudin, presented \u201810 Insider Secrets to Better Expert Witness Testimony\u2019 to the group during the afternoon session.\u00a0 Peterson is a nationally renowned Expert Witness, who formerly served as president of the Utah Home Builder\u2019s Association.\u00a0 \u201cMany of us have attended West Coast Casualty, an annual construction defect conference in Anaheim that boasts several thousand attendees,\u201d said Peterson.\u00a0 \u201cWe wanted to create something that was more local and less disconnected, so we put together 5 geographic seminars throughout the year where each region can focus on the issues relevant to them.\u00a0 This premier Northwest conference is a huge milestone for construction defect professionals on a local level.\u00a0 We\u2019re already being asked about next year\u2019s conference, which is planned for Seattle next November.\u201d\u00a0 Beaudin commented \u201cWe may currently be between flavors of the month, but there is so much construction going on right now and so many new products being hastily thrown into the mix, it\u2019s only a short matter of time before the deficiencies of this building wave surface and building owners suffer damages as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"