{"id":891016,"date":"2016-09-23T11:17:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T17:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=891016"},"modified":"2016-09-23T11:17:16","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T17:17:16","slug":"choice-law-made-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/choice-law-made-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"When Choice of Law Made a Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stan Martin | Commonsense Construction Law LLC<\/a> | August 22, 2016<\/p>\n

Choice of law clauses are not usually the subject of intense negotiation, in part as there is substantial consistency among the laws of the various states. But not always, as parties on a New Jersey project learned. A difference in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania workers\u2019 compensation laws meant that the liability of the general contractor to an injured worker claim would depend on which state\u2019s law governed.<\/p>\n

A New Jersey contractor performing a public project in New Jersey hired a Pennsylvania roofing sub. A subcontract clause called for New Jersey law to govern. An employee of the sub was injured, and sued the GC in Pennsylvania. The GC then sought dismissal of the claim, arguing that the Pennsylvania workers\u2019 comp statute provides immunity to the GC as a \u201csecondary employer\u201d who has liability for payment of workers\u2019 comp benefits if the direct employer fails to do so. Despite the subcontract clause calling for application of New Jersey law, the GC apparently hoped the Pennsylvania judge would willingly apply Pennsylvania law. The judge didn\u2019t take the bait.<\/p>\n

Applying a choice of law analysis, the court reasoned that Pennsylvania had an interest in ensuring that one of its citizens would be properly compensated for an injury. And that interest could be discharged by applying New Jersey law, as called for in the subcontract. And since New Jersey law does not provide the GC in this setting with immunity from the sub\u2019s employee\u2019s claim, the GC\u2019s motion to have the claim dismissed was denied.<\/p>\n

A nuance in the workers\u2019 compensation laws from one state to another may not dictate negotiations over a choice of law clause. But this case serves as a reminder that at least a few risks may be allocated differently, under particular circumstances, from one state to another. Think about that the next time you consider whether to argue over the choice of law clause when negotiating a contract. The case is Acker v. Ray Angelini, Inc.<\/em>, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108956 (Aug. 16, 2016), available here<\/a> (LEXIS subscription required).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stan Martin | Commonsense Construction Law LLC | August 22, 2016 Choice of law clauses are not usually the subject of intense negotiation, in part as there is substantial consistency among the laws of the various states. But not always, as parties on a New Jersey project learned. A difference in the New Jersey and… Continue reading When Choice of Law Made a Difference<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[172],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-891016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-law-2","tag-construction-law","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Choice of Law Made a Difference - 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