Thank you
Thank you for joining us for I Will Not Go Quietly: Termination at All Levels of Construction (2023 Construction Law Winter Program).
Description
It's easy to get into a construction contract. It's a lot messier to get out of one.
8:55 Welcome and Introductions
9:00 The Heart of the Matter: The Owner's Right to Terminate
James Bernier, North Carolina Department of Justice, Raleigh
Parties in a construction contract aren't stuck together for life. When in a contract, communication and documentation are key to a healthy contractual relationship. Recognizing when the relationship has soured, when to cut ties, and the options for letting go are also important.
10:01 Leather and Lace: How Design Professionals Fit in a Termination
Melissa Dewey Brumback, Ragsdale Liggett PLLC, Raleigh
Sandra Mitterling Schilder, Ragsdale Liggett PLLC, Raleigh
The design professional is a chameleon — sometimes in the owner's corner and sometimes in the contractor's. How the architect or engineer should handle the owner terminating a contractor, or a contractor walking off a job, can be fraught with peril. And sometimes the designer needs to walk if an owner makes unreasonable demands or a contractor's work on a project puts him/her in jeopardy. This session deals with the myriad roles of the designer in handling a termination (or firing) of others and in terminating his/her own work on a project, as well as your role in advising the design team in making (or assisting in) a clean break.
11:01 Break
11:11 The End of the Innocence: How to Represent a General Contractor Being Terminated for Cause
Ryan L. Beaver, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Charlotte
J. Patrick Haywood, Carruthers & Roth P.A., Greensboro
Discuss from a contractor's perspective how best to address an owner's declaration of default for both public and private jobs. This session also addresses the contractor's need to consider whether to save the project, themselves, or maybe both.
12:13 Lunch Break
12:43 New York Minute: What Performance Bond Sureties Face When the Termination Call Comes
Daniel R. Hansen, Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP, Charlotte
Explore the process that a surety company undertakes when its principal is defaulted and terminated. Topics include bond forms, distinctions between default and termination, the surety's rights and duties to investigate and perform, performance bond defenses, and more.
1:44 The Boys of Summer: Considerations for Subcontractors and Suppliers When the Prime Gets Canned
Steven A. Bimbo, Smith Terry & Windle, Charlotte
Bentford E. "Ben" Martin, Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin PLLC, Charlotte
This presentation focuses on subcontractor considerations following the termination of a general contractor for cause as well as for convenience. The discussion includes considerations for obtaining payment for work performed prior to the termination, whether the subcontractor can stop working and terminate the subcontract or must keep working (and, if so, for whom), considerations regarding payment for work not yet performed, and the effect of an automatic assignment of subcontracts following a termination for cause. Also hear about the contract provisions addressing all these considerations and how the provisions can be modified to protect the subcontractor.
2:46 Break
2:56 All She Wants to Do Is Dance: Ethical Quandaries for Lawyers Advising Clients in Terminations*
Alex Ferri, Ward and Smith PA, Raleigh
Jason T. Strickland, Ward and Smith PA, Raleigh
This segment is an examination of ethical issues frequently encountered in exercising or responding to terminations in the construction context, including the potential for conflicts of interest when the lawyer represents multiple parties and the lawyer becoming a fact witness in termination situations. We also discuss the constraints on the lawyer demanding cure actions or exercising the termination right.
3:57 Adjourn
* Indicates portion providing Ethics/Professional Responsibility credit
Thank you for joining us for I Will Not Go Quietly: Termination at All Levels of Construction (2023 Construction Law Winter Program).
It's easy to get into a construction contract. It's a lot messier to get out of one.
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If paying by check, click here for a printable registration form. Please reference the live webcast program code 199RWC.