Dallas Austin

The Texas Legislature has started its 88th Regular Session and as of January 23, 2023, more than 2,150 bills and joint resolutions have been filed.  We examine a few bills that are of particular interest to the design and construction industry. SB 283 – Relating to requiring workers’ compensation coverage for employes of building and construction contractors and subcontractors Summary: Would require all contractors and their subcontractors for a public work project to be covered by workers compensation insurance. HB 1054 – Requiring classification of certain construction workers with th

What happens when a construction-related claim is reported untimely or falls outside coverage of a construction management professional liability policy?  From the policyholder’s perspective, nothing good. The Policies The coverage dispute, recently decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (New York), involves a general contractor and two Texas projects.  Hunt Construction Group, the contractor, bound two construction management professional liability insurance policies from Berkley Assurance Company.  The policies included the same material terms, but were for

What happens when winter weather disrupts a major airline’s operations and strands thousands of passengers for days on end?  Unlike Southwest Airlines’ planes in December 2022, the first lawsuit regarding the meltdown has arrived early. Tens of thousands of flights were delayed or cancelled during the December holiday break in 2022 because of abnormally cold weather across most of the United States. Southwest Airlines was the most impacted airline and the last airline to resume normal operations. The extensive delays and cancellations by Southwest were attributed to staffing issues and fa

Do arbitration agreements in home construction contracts run with the land? The Texas Supreme Court recently answered this question affirmatively, binding a subsequent buyer to arbitration. In Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction, Ltd., et al. v. Kara Whitely, Kara Whitley filed suit against Lennar alleging negligent construction, breach of warranties and DTPA claims regarding a house she had purchased from the original buyer.  Lennar built the house in Dickinson, Texas and sold it to the original buyer in 2014. At the time, Lennar conveyed the house and property via special warranty d

A Dallas jury recently awarded over $6 million to a homeowner’s association for repairs to its property.  Whether the verdict stands or falls will depend in part on how the Judge interprets the pre-suit notice and offer provisions of Texas Residential Construction Liability Act (RCLA), a Texas statute governing construction defects in residential construction and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act (DTPA). In Avalon Square Homeowners Association v. K. Hovnanian Homes – DFW, LLC, the Avalon Square Homeowners Association (Association) filed a lawsuit against the bu