Blogs

The Skinny on Consequential Damages. By: Karen Ensley, Esq. What are consequential damages and why do they matter? To understand consequential damages, you first have to understand direct damages. Direct damages are those that you’d typically think of as damages for breach of the duties one party owes another. On a breach of contract claim, they’d include the cost to complete a project, to repair faulty work, and added supervision costs incurred because a project takes longer to comp …

Hail Damage Insurance Claims (and Other Roof Damage Claims) - a Texas Construction Law Update Roof with Hail Damage Marked by Insurance Adjuster Case Summary On August 3, 2017, the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth granted class certification against Lon Smith Roofing (LSRC), a prominent North Texas Roofer, for violation of the Texas Public Insurance Adjusting Act. Given the direction the courts in North Texas have gone in the past few years, the ruling is not a surprise. It is a warn …

Texas is one of the most debtor-friendly states in the country and, not surprisingly, it also has some of the most complicated mechanic's lien laws. The complicated nature of these laws often serves as a trap for an unwary subcontractor with a legitimate claim for payment. Lien requirements are different for each different tier of contractor so it is extremely important to know which tier you fall in. If your contract is directly with the owner, you are a first-tier contractor; if your contract …

Texas just experienced one of the worst arctic weather events in its history. Governor Abbott issued a statewide disaster which triggers the provisions of TBCC 58.  If you are considering offering disaster repair services to those affected, here’s a friendly reminder of the additional contracting requirements needed for disaster repair that falls under the TBCC 58 rules.  A contractor offering remediation services: (a) cannot request an upfront or interim payment that exceeds the rea …

Have you ever heard someone say that a particular term in a contract is so outrageous, unfair, one sided, or ridiculous that it cannot possibly be enforceable? If you are signing a contract as a consumer, that may very well be true as there are several laws out there for the express purpose of protecting the consumer.  However, if you are signing the contract as a business, for the most part the courts presume that you are a “big boy,” know what you’re signing (even if you don’t or in fact …