{"id":901721,"date":"2023-10-17T15:33:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T21:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=901721"},"modified":"2023-10-17T15:33:49","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T21:33:49","slug":"wrongful-termination-im-still-standing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wrongful-termination-im-still-standing\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction Litigation Roundup: \u201cI\u2019m Still\u00a0Standing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Daniel Lund III | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lexology.com\/library\/detail.aspx?g=798ce960-cefd-4b34-9246-16cae5878f3c&amp;utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&amp;utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&amp;utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&amp;utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2023-10-10&amp;utm_term=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Phelps Dunbar<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A defaulted general contractor advancing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/contractor-firing-the-owner\/\">wrongful termination argument<\/a> against the project owner found itself faced with an argument that the contractor had no rights remaining against the owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At issue was the series of transactions leading to the takeover by the surety of a Hartford, Connecticut, baseball stadium project: \u201c[I]n the view of the [project owner] \u2026 [the GC\u2019s] assignment to [the surety of its \u2018rights under all Bonded Contract(s)\u2019 and \u2018all claims of all causes of action against any parties\u2019 deprives it of any real interest in any cause of action against the City.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indeed, the GIA between the surety and the general contractor provided that \u201ceffective as of the date of this Agreement, but enforceable only in the event of a Default, Principal &#8230; do[es] hereby assign, transfer and set over to Surety, all of their rights under all Bonded Contract(s) including &#8230; (c) all claims and causes of action against any parties &#8230;.\u201d The court noted that the general contractor did \u201cnot dispute that it was in technical default as that word is used in the GIA.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For its part, the general contractor argued that \u201cit has standing because as an assignor of claims for collateral security, it retains a colorable claim of direct injury.\u201d The court agreed: \u201c\u2026 the clear status of the present assignment as one providing collateral security, which under our law reserves in the assignor an interest in an assigned cause of action, requires the court to conclude that [the GC] retains standing to assert the present claim and to deny the motion to dismiss.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a belt and suspenders approach the general contractor asserted that the surety specifically authorized the contractor\u2019s action against the government. Over arguments by the owner that \u201cthere is nothing in the Takeover Agreement that can be construed as an express grant of authority to pursue [the GC\u2019s] claim against it\u201d \u2013 a fact acknowledged by the court \u2013 the court found that the general contractor\u2019s action against the owner was authorized by the surety. This finding was predicated in principal part upon testimony by the surety\u2019s AVP concerning the reservation of claims against the project owner in the takeover agreement between the surety and the owner: \u201cThe reason the reservation was included in the Takeover Agreement, according to [the surety AVP], was because [the&nbsp;surety] wanted to make sure that [the GC] preserve \u2018[its] day in court &#8230;. It was [the surety\u2019s] view that [the GC\u2019s suit] was something worthwhile protecting.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/daniel-lund-10823a3_centerplan-case-activity-7117149937636700160-qgpN\/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><em>Centerplan Constr. Co. LLC v. City of Hartford,<\/em><\/a>\u00a02023 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2302 (Super. Ct. Sep. 11, 2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel Lund III | Phelps Dunbar A defaulted general contractor advancing a wrongful termination argument against the project owner found itself faced with an argument that the contractor had no rights remaining against the owner.\u00a0 At issue was the series of transactions leading to the takeover by the surety of a Hartford, Connecticut, baseball stadium&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wrongful-termination-im-still-standing\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Construction Litigation Roundup: \u201cI\u2019m Still\u00a0Standing\u201d<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[9895,11866],"class_list":["post-901721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-wrongful-termination-claim","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Construction Litigation Roundup: \u201cI\u2019m Still\u00a0Standing\u201d - Advise &amp; 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