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Wolfe Law Group is happy to announce the launch two new blog focused on the Pacific Northwest, and particularly the states of Washington and Oregon.

The Northwest Construction Law Blog focuses on construction law issues and updates in Oregon and Washington.  We launched this blog to help your company stay informed about important legal updates in Oregon and Washington, but also to educate contractors and suppliers about legal issues they confront (sometimes unknowingly) everyday

At the Northwest Green Building Law Blog, we’ll be focusing on green building legal matters that affect the states of Washington and Oregon.

Wolfe Law Group practices law in Washington and Oregon, and focuses its practice on the construction industry. We have two full-time LEED AP attorneys who are familiar with green building issues and disputes.

Wolfe Law Group is the leader in the legal industry with its publishing of quality legal resources and information. All of our attorneys consistently publish articles and discussions on our legal blogs, and all of our content keeps you in mind. We strive to post articles and discussions that are relevant to your business, so you can stay advised of legal matters that are important to your company, and get a better all-around understanding of how the law affects your day-to-day work.

Take a look at our listing of industry leading blogs here.

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November 18, 2009- Scott Wolfe, Jr., founder and member of Wolfe Law Group, LLC was invited to speak at the Louisiana Engineering Society: New Orleans Chapter's Monthly Meeting.  Scott would like to extend his thanks to the LES for the invitation to speak and the opportunity to meet several people in the engineering industry.

The LES has three main chapters in the state of Louisiana and is dedicated to the advancement of the engineering profession by pursing an active leadership role through various resources. 

For LES' full mission and vision statements, click here.  Incorporating speakers during the monthly meetings is just one of the many ways the LES provides its members with resources and information relevant to the field of engineering.

As a construction lawyer, Scott Wolfe consults with engineers as experts on various cases. Since the discovery of Chinese Drywall in completed construction projects across the state, he has become familiar with the basic problems of Chinese Drywall, how it effects individuals and contractors and how to proceed in the case that Chinese Drywall is detected.

The issue of Chinese Drywall is not only relevant to contractors and home/property owners, it extends to architects, engineers and attorneys.  Engineers in particular are being contracted to perform inspections of homes and businesses suspected of harboring Chinese Drywall.

Scott focused his presentation on the pertinent issue of Chinese Drywall in the state of Louisiana. Below is the slide presentation that was used during the meeting yesterday.

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Over the weekend, the New Orleans Times Picayune had some promising news for contractors in the area, and even out-of state laborers and contractors:

Over the next several months, the Army Corps of Engineers plans to advertise three dozen construction contracts that could cost upwards of $3 billion -- more than it has spent since Hurricane Katrina...

So vast and compressed is the construction schedule that corps representatives have advised contractors to consider importing out-of-state labor, lining up temporary housing for employees and working around the clock.

This is certainly welcome news for Louisiana contractors, who are constantly reading grim economic forecasts for the rest of the nation.   Thus far, the post-Katrina market has seemingly insulated the region from economic peril, as New Orleans and Baton Rouge have maintained robust construction markets throughout the downturn.

If your company is going to bid for a piece of the Corps spending, be sure to enter into contracts carefully and protect your company's right to payment throughout the job.

Here are two important things to keep in mind:

Contracting:  Contacting an attorney - like Wolfe Law Group - to review your contracts can pay dividends on the project.   A simple contract review can cost as little as $1000.00, but give your company a better understanding of its rights and obligations under the agreement, and sometimes even point out provisions that can be altered to your company's benefit.

Just because a contract is put before your company, doesn't mean it needs to be signed in that form.  Frequently, contractors and project owners are willing to negotiate common terms, and simple changes to critical provisions can later save your company thousands.

Read more about construction contracts on our blog here.

Liens:   Since they will be funded by the Corps, these projects are all likely to be public.   However, just because a project is public doesn't mean your company is without "lien" rights.   Louisiana's Public Works Act allows unpaid companies to file "Statements of Claims" that protect a company's right to get paid...and since federal and state projects are nearly always bonded, the Statements of Claims can be a very powerful and effective collections tool.

However, filing successfully under the Public Works Act begins before you step foot on the job-site.  

Learn more about public liens and the Public Works Act here.

And for more information about the Corps projects and legal representation from Wolfe Law Group on these types of projects, contact us today.

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Louisiana lien laws are codified in La. R.S. 9:4801, which is referred to as the Louisiana Private Works Act.  While the state has some notice requirements, it is generally a non-notice state [read about notice requirements for Louisiana here].

But what happens when a lien is filed improperly?

Depending on your perspective, it's either fortunate or unfortunate that parish recording offices are required to file mechanic's lien upon presentation. 

So...if a subcontractor liens a project for $10 million when he's only owed $35.00, the lien is recorded.   If a laborer liens a project five years after its substantially complete, the lien is recorded.  Or if the lien fails to include information required by law, it is still recorded.

While the construction or mechanic's lien may be legally improper, it gets on the books, and that means it can have the effect of preventing a sale, transfer or refinancing of the property.

The Private Works Act provides a procedure by which any interested party can dispute the validity of a construction lien.  If they are successful at removing the lien, the Act provides the disputing party the ability to recover attorneys fees and costs.

Scott Wolfe recently published a Legal Guide on the national lawyer ranking website, Avvo.com.  The guide is titled "How to Dispute a Construction Lien in Louisiana," and guides an interested party through these three steps:

1)  Answer the Obvious Question:  Is the Lien Improper?  [read common mistakes]

2)  Make Written Demand for Cancellation of the Lien [see template letter]

3)  File Suit to Demand Removal of the Lien [see similar lawsuit]

Read the legal guide in full at Avvo.com by clicking here.

Wolfe Law Group frequently works with clients who dispute the validity of construction and mechanics liens in Louisiana and Washington.   Contact us today for more information about how to demand the cancellation of a construction or mechanic's lien filed against your property, or on your project.

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In February 2008, the Louisiana Supreme Court decided Frey Plumbing Co., Inc. v. Celeste Foster, 996 So.2d 969, which dealt with the question of whether an agreement between a homeowner and a plumber was an "open account" or a construction contract.

Distinguishing between open accounts and construction contracts is important for a number of reasons, and namely because one can statutorily recover attorneys fees and interest under Louisiana open account law.

At trial level, the court granted the homeowner's summary judgment, agreeing that that plumbing agreement was a "construction contract" and not an open account.  The trial and La. 4th Circuit based its decision on a jurisprudential "factors test."

In Frey, the Supreme Court reversed this decision, and overruled all cases in Louisiana that relied on these "factors" to determine whether an agreement is a contract or an open account.   The Supreme Court stated that the statute (§9:2781) must be simply applied as written.

Here is how "open accounts" are defined in the statute:

'Open account' includes any account forth which a part or all of the balance is past due, whether or not the account reflects one or more transactions and whether or not at the time of contracting the parties expected future transactions.  'Open account' shall include debts incurred for professional services, including but not limited to legal and medial services. 

The defendant in Frey warned that such a liberal reading of the statute would be problematic:

Frey reads out the repeated references to 'open account' and 'account' and would have this Court hold that all unpaid debts fall within the purview of the statute.  Frey's interpretation of the statute is contrary to well established principals of statutory construction and leads to absurd results clearly unintended by the Legislature.

The Plaintiff in Frey didn't deny this allegation, saying instead that there's no explanation or indication that "this is not what the legislature mandated pursuant to the express provisions of the open account statute."

The Louisiana Supreme Court did not comment on the debate between the parties as to the exact broadness of the open account statute.  However, the court did make it clear that construction agreements are not automatically exempt from open account analysis.  

The prior "analysis" was trashed, and the court now requires that the facts of the case be applied to the plain language of 9:2781(D).

The Frey decision dealt with an unwritten plumbing agreement that was billed to the property owner after the work was complete.   Wolfe Law Group just this week filed a memorandum with the 22nd Judicial District Court analyzing the Frey decision and how it might apply to a more traditional lump-sum construction contract.

The memorandum can be read on JDSupra here.

We'll update with the judge's decision when received.

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Wolfe Law Group officially unveils three new topic-specific legal blogs that relate to legal concerns for the construction industry. The new blogs focus on emerging practice areas for the law firm.

ChineseDrywallBlog.com

Since the emergence of the Chinese Drywall crisis, Wolfe Law Group has been a leader in providing information to builders, suppliers, contractors and other construction participants about how they are affected by the crisis.

Those who may have supplied or installed Chinese Drywall have concerns about their legal rights and obligations, and are interested in learning more about what type of legal options are available to them.

This blog will focus on these topics, and promote the firm's new Chinese Drywall Defense practice area.

LaGreenLaw.com

The emergence of Green Building and LEED accreditation nationwide has changed building practices.

This is especially true in the state of Louisiana, where Hurricane Katrina relief money has attracted non-profit groups interesting in building the city back green.

Contemporaneously, however, emerging legal issues are coming into focus that are specific to green building.

This blog will track the progress of green building in Louisiana and provide insight on the legal components of "building green" in the state.

BrazilConstructionLaw.com

The Brazil Construction Law Blog will provide insight on construction law development and news in the country of Brazil, including information about international arbitration and the laws applicable to companies who are interested in doing business in Brazil.

While the blog is written in English, and written to an English-speaking audience, it can be translated into Portuguese and Spanish.

The blog intends to speak to an audience of businesses interested in foreign contracting, international joint ventures and international construction risk management.

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This week, some familiar topics were being talked about in the legal blogosphere, from the Employee Free Choice Act to the Chinese Drywall situation in Florida, Louisiana and elsewhere.  Here are some selected articles and posts from around the web this week:

• EFCA - Amidst all of the controversy, three mega-retailers proposed an alternative to the currently pending EFCA act.   Those retailers?   Starbucks, Whole Foods and Costco.
   
• Green building law blogger Shari Shapiro went to a green building conference and asks the question:  Is construction law Where The Boys Are...and The Girls Aren't.
   
• The Business Pundit reports that the Knauf Drywall Fiasco could be the Biggest Home Defect Case In U.S. History.  The question then becomes...are you prepared for that?  Wolfe Law has been blogging on Chinese Drywall here, and they have published an Avvo Legal Guide titled:  What To Do If You Installed or Supplied Chinese Drywall.
   
• The Stimulus is still in the news.  Here is a searchable spreadsheet published by the Contractor's Blog of the 18,000+ Infrastructure projects.
   
• Wolfe Law Group news?   Check out an interview with founding member Scott Wolfe Jr. on New Orleans' Fox 8 about Chinese Drywall.   Also, the firm announced a new practice group to represent, advise and defend builders, contractors, suppliers and other construction industry participants who are implicated by the imported drywall crisis.

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