In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Tony Pavel, Senior Food Lawyer and Global Food Law Team Leader at Cargill, a global food, agricultural, financial and industrial products company. These former colleagues discuss how food law has grown more complicated over the years, particularly in relation to FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), traceability, the increasing globalization of supply chains, and consumers demanding labeling transparency and vast product information. They also discuss potential regulatory changes on the horizon given both technological advances in data-driven areas, such as rapid testing, and the beginning of the Biden Administration.
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A recent Massachusetts trial court decision ruled that any objections to a payment application are waived unless a reviewing owner or contractor strictly follows the Massachusetts Prompt Payment Statute, Prompt Payment Act, G.L. c. 149, § 29E, which applies to most projects with a prime contract worth more than $3 million. See Tocci v. IRIV Partners, LLC, et al., Suffolk Superior Court, 1984CV000405 (November 19, 2020).
Public construction in Pennsylvania and elsewhere continues to present substantial challenges to local governmental entities, especially in current circumstances. While some projects have been deferred, the normal course of public construction programs is likely to resume. Local governments, and their design professionals, can take advantage of what observations and experience have taught us about best practices in undertaking and completing public construction projects. In this article, we discuss one of these – preparation of “front-end” bidding documents in a form extensively revised from standard AIA documents.
On June 29, 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that a subcontractor’s commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policy may provide a contractor listed as an additional insured on the CGL policy with insurance coverage for correcting the subcontractor’s faulty work. See Skanska USA Bldg. Inc. v. M.A.P. Mech. Contractors, Inc., No. 159510, 2020 WL 3527909 (Mich. June 29, 2020). The court held that unintentionally faulty subcontractor work that damages an insured’s work may constitute an “accident” for an additional insured under the subcontractor’s CGL policy.
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a non-signatory to an agreement requiring arbitration for disputes might be able to compel arbitration under state law equitable estoppel arguments. The decision held that the New York Convention (“Convention”) does not conflict with the enforcement of arbitration provisions in agreements by non-signatories under domestic-law equitable estoppel doctrines. See GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS, Corp. v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC, No. 18-1048, 2020 WL 2814297 (U.S. June 1, 2020). This decision aligns the U.S. with the majority of countries that have adjudicated the issue, which often arises in international construction disputes.
On May 26, 2020, the Court of Appeals of Maryland (Maryland’s highest court) held that where one of the two parties to an AIA contract sues or settles with a third party, the AIA contract’s mutual waiver of subrogation precludes that third party from claiming a right of contribution against the other contracting party. See Gables Construction, Inc. v. Red Coats, Inc. et al., No. 397964-V, 2020 WL 2731087 (Court of Appeals (Md.) May 26, 2020). The appellate court reversed the lower court’s decision, on which we previously reported last year.