Dallas Austin

What effect does limiting the amount of required insurance in a construction contract have on an insurer writing umbrella coverage?  The Texas Supreme Court recently considered this issue, answering that the limitation was not incorporated into the umbrella policy and was of no effect. The Court was very familiar with facts of the underlying dispute, ExxonMobil v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, as it was the second coverage dispute the Court had heard and decided involving the same incident.  Exxon retained Savage Refinery Services (Savage) to perform work at Exxon&

Several new bills affecting the construction industry have been filed in the Texas Legislature’s current session, some of which have been filed and are in the process of being referred to committees. H.B. 2310 by Representative Canalas would require a plaintiff in a commercial construction defect cases, at the time the lawsuit it filed, to attach a sworn verification describing with particularity the alleged defects and the factual basis for why each defendant’s work is implicated.  If the pleading is insufficient, the defendant can ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. If the court finds th

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