Dallas Austin

Is a city liable for destroying a private residence in the process of releasing a hostage and preventing her captor from inflicting harm to others?  Citing case law from 1788, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently held, no. On July 25, 2020, Deanna Cook, was staying at house of her mother, Vicki Baker, in McKinney, Texas, preparing the house for sale.  Baker’s dog was also present at the home. That morning, Cook saw a Facebook post that Wesley Little was on the run with a 15-year-old female “runaway.” Cook recognized Little because he has worked on Baker’s

On September 23, 2023, a new statute came into effect that will impact general contractors and subcontractors related to a contractor’s right to stop work in the absence of a written change order.  Under Texas Property Code 28.0091, a contractor can decide not to follow an owners or contractor’s construction directive, if: 1.    the contractor or subcontractor has not received a written, fully executed change order for the owner-directed additional work; and 2.    the aggregate actual or anticipated value of the additional work plus any previous owner-directed additional work for whic

Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) insurance policies are the backbone to any contractor’s risk management plan.  One endorsement with a significantly reduced sublimit that is finding its way into more CGL policies issued in Texas is worth a closer look and careful monitoring. Several CGL insurers have begun including endorsements that make coverage subject to having lower tier subcontractors fulfill certain insurance requirements.  In one such endorsement that we recently reviewed for a general contractor, the following subcontractor insurance requirements were listed as conditions

What is the impact of granting a license to a property owner to use a set a schematic drawings?  The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently answered this question in Loeb-Defever v. Mako, LLC. In Mako, Pauda Realty requested Loeb Architects, LLC to prepare a design for an assisted living facility in Conroe, Texas.  Pauda and Loeb subsequently entered into two separate service contracts each of which contained a limitation that schematics could not be used on other projects except by agreement in writing and with subsequent compensation to Loeb. After Loeb partially com

Are property owners allowed to testify about the cost of repairing their own property without other evidence?  The Dallas Court of Appeals recently placed some limitations in the so-called Property Owner Rule. In William Lisle and Smith-Lisle Holdings, Ltd. v. Do-Mo Joint Venture, a dispute arose between two commercial property owners when Lisle and SLH, a landscaping company, purchased the property next door to Do-Mo’s property which housed medical offices. After SLH bought the property, it removed the house from the property and began work to make improvements. The improvements consisted