Construction

Pullman & Comley’s construction lawyers have extensive experience in matters involving the owner or the general contractor, a subcontractor or a surety, a designer or a construction manager or a supplier of materials or equipment.  Because these attorneys are construction litigators, they bring to the task of contract negotiation, in-project counseling, and favorable resolution assistance a perspective that non-litigators may lack.

Among the many types of matters our construction lawyers litigate, arbitrate and/or mediate are multi-million dollar claims including:

• Contract termination matters
• Changed conditions disputes
• Issues relating to changes in the work and change orders
• Claims for delay and acceleration
• Indemnification claims
• Matters concerning materials, construction, installation, and/or design defects
• Matters concerning owner’s payments to contractors when time is of the essence for completion of an ongoing project
• Claims for increased fees, cost overruns, and additional services compensation
• Disputes involving construction management contract terms
• Nuisance and personal injury claims stemming from ongoing construction projects
• Disputes including alleged subcontractor theft
• Those relating to the bidding process primarily on public projects, including bid protest and bid mistake matters
• Performance and payment bond claims and matters concerning the assertion of mechanics lien rights
• Recording mechanic's liens and substituting lien bonds for liens
• Mechanic’s lien foreclosures and other litigation regarding payment
• Transition from owner-developers to HOAs
• Unforeseen subsurface conditions
• Claims involving release environmental contaminants resulting from project work and historic contamination cleanup
• New home warranty claims

Our construction lawyers also assist clients with contract negotiation and partner with lawyers from other practices of the firm to provide the full range of legal services our construction industry clients need, including labor relations, bankruptcy advice and representation, and insurance coverage claims prosecution.

Won a seven-figure award for a contractor in arbitration on a changed conditions claim, notwithstanding the presence of “unclassified site” language in the bidding documents

Successfully extracted a contractor from a seven-figure bid mistake

Successfully represented the owner in connection with numerous claims relating to the construction of a major New Haven office tower 

Successfully defended a delay claim against a subcontractor on a major hospital construction project 

Won summary judgment for a surety on a first impression statute of limitations issues and preserved the judgment on appeal to the Second Circuit

Obtained dismissal of lawsuit against architect in a roof collapse case where the plaintiff sought to make the architect liable on a strict tort theory

Won a three-week trial for a Connecticut municipality in the Superior Court Complex Litigation Docket, defeating a trade contractor's seven-figure delay claim

Publications