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Volume 4 - Number 25 | June 26, 2006

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  EDITOR'S NOTES | Issue 4-25
In Shakespeare’s immortal Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asked, “What’s in a name?” While the lovesick youth would argue that a rose by another other name would smell as sweet, she’d have a hard time convincing the Kansas Appeals Court of her logic. Such an argument didn’t work for a subcontractor that erroneously altered the name of a general contractor on a mechanics’ lien. It could not recover costs because the filing deadline had passed before it discovered the mistake.

For the New York’s Appeals Court, a contract by any other name is still a contract, whether it is signed or not. The court enforced an arbitration agreement on a church that did not sign the pact but proceeded with an expansion project.

Contract applicability also wreaks havoc for our next case in which an appellate panel concludes that a waiver of subrogation clause is “obscurely drafted.”

In our final case, an appeals court wends its way through a lengthy negligence case and ultimately upholds the district court’s decision, ruling that “excusable negligence” waived a statute of limitations, among other things.

We also continue our series of articles by Kent B. Scott. This week’s article focuses on the elements that comprise an arbitration.
  THE CONSTRUCTION ATTORNEY’S TOOLBOX—BUILDING SOLUTIONS, Part 3
Kent Scott By Kent B. Scott
In the third article in this four-part series, attorney Kent B. Scott explains the process and players involved in arbitration. This article is published with permission from the Utah Bar Journal, where it originally appeared.
  CONCRETE FLAWS LEAD TO COMPLICATED LITIGATION
An appeals court upholds a district court decision that waives a statute of limitations based on “excusable negligence” in an aquarium project gone wrong.
  WAIVER OF SUBROGATION CLAUSE IS ‘OBSCURELY DRAFTED’
A confusing contract clause for a waterways project leads to litigation that the clause was designed to avoid.
 
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