Pemberton Minnesota Construction Expert Witness Directory

New York Team Secures Dismissal of Premises Liability Action Against Client

May 26, 2026 — Lewis Brisbois
New York Associate Nicole Koch and Partner Jennine Gerrard recently secured a complete dismissal of a plaintiff’s claims for injuries following a fall in front of a client’s business at an outdoor mall. The plaintiff alleged that she was walking on the sidewalk outside of the client's hair care supply store in the Bronx in May 2024 when she tripped and fell on a broken/defective portion of the sidewalk. As a result of the accident, the plaintiff suffered injuries to her spine, hip, wrist, and both knees. She proceeded to file suit in New York County Supreme Court against Lewis Brisbois’ client and the landlord for the property. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

Court Rules Cook County Misspent $243M in Transportation Funds

March 10, 2026 — Annemarie Mannion - Engineering News-Record
A Cook County Illinois Circuit Court judge has ruled that the county violated the state constitution by using $243 million in transportation tax revenue during fiscal 2023 for non-transportation purposes, handing a legal win to a statewide coalition of construction trade groups. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Annemarie Mannion, Engineering News-Record
Ms. Mannion may be contacted at manniona@enr.com

Ownership and Licensing in Design Agreements

April 14, 2026 — Abby Dvorkin - Snell & Wilmer
The ownership and licensing of design documents in professional services agreements play a significant role in protecting the interests of the design professional and the project owner during and after project completion. The ownership or licensing of the drawings provision typically outlines who owns the drawings and specifications, who can use the documents, and how the documents can be used during and after the project. Project owners and developers should understand that payment for design services does not automatically transfer ownership or an exclusive right to use the professional design. Under U.S. copyright law, the default rule is that the design professional retains ownership of the instruments of service absent a contractual provision transferring ownership or a license. See 17 U.S.C. § 101, et seq. The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act provides that copyright protection applies to “pictorial, graphic and sculptural works” and includes “architectural works.” 17 U.S.C. § 102. A design professional may only transfer copyright ownership in writing. 17 U.S.C. § 204(a). Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Abby Dvorkin, Snell & Wilmer
Ms. Dvorkin may be contacted at advorkin@swlaw.com

Seattle’s Residential Zoning Transformation: What Property Owners, Buyers, and Investors Should Understand

May 14, 2026 — Lawrence S. Glosser - Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
Seattle is in the midst of a significant transformation in residential land use policy. Longstanding neighborhood zoning patterns that historically favored detached single-family development are being reexamined in response to housing supply pressures, affordability concerns, and evolving state mandates. For homeowners, purchasers, investors, and builders, these changes may create substantial new opportunities. They also create a heightened need for careful legal and practical due diligence. While zoning reform can expand potential uses of property, it does not eliminate the many other constraints that may still govern what can actually be built. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lawrence S. Glosser, Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
Mr. Glosser may be contacted at larry.glosser@acslawyers.com

Four Families Now Live in the Season Six Rock the Block Homes in Grantsville, Utah

April 20, 2026 — Hamlet Homes
SALT LAKE CITY, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The premier of Rock the Block season seven aired last Monday and is set in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rock The Block is HGTV's highest rated show. Last year, season six was set in Utah and had HGTV's highest rating yet, with over 14 million viewers. All episodes of season six were filmed in the Worthington Ranch community in Grantsville, Utah. The four homes on the show were built by Utah builder Hamlet Homes. During the show, the location of the four Rock The Block homes had to be kept secret and were surrounded by a locked gate. After over a year of being inaccessible, the Utah public was invited in May 2025 to tour the homes and help raise money together for charity. On May 30-31, 2025, Hamlet hosted a 'Rock The Block Party' where the public was able to walk through the homes made famous by the show. Hamlet Owner, VP of Marketing & Design Tami Ostmark shares stories from the show and her perspective of what it's like to be the builder on a national show like this. Ostmark was on set almost the entire time. "As expected, there were times when there was tension on the set. All four designers were super competitive with each other. It's amazing that the production team was able to produce the show as well as they did. I'm very impressed," said Ostmark. Another interesting point related to the show is how much work the local builder is responsible for. Some nights as many as 30 Hamlet team members worked through the night to keep up with the pace of production. "Each designer provided their own trusted carpenters to do finishing work. In two of the cases, designers' flew their favorite carpenters in to carry out their visions. Given the quick turnaround, it's not always practical for finishing work to be permanent. Sometimes, it just needs to look appealing on camera," said Ostmark. This is frequently referred to as 'TV Magic'. "When the show was over, Hamlet re-did any areas that required extra attention". The show really does shoot in only 7 weeks as depicted. This creates a fast pace that was very exciting to be a part of", continued Ostmark. All four of the homes featured on the show have since been purchased; four Utah families currently call them home. ABOUT HAMLET HOMES Hamlet Homes (www.hamlethomes.com) crafts quality customer-oriented townhomes and single-family homes located in attractively designed communities in Utah and Idaho. Since the company's founding in 1995, Hamlet has built over 5,000 homes in 80 communities. The company is a proud recipient of many awards on Sustainable Business & Design, Quality Builder Awards; recognized both locally and nationally. Named by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce as the 'Veteran Owned Small Business of the Year, in 2019'. Hamlet has since been named several times to the Professional Builder's Housing Giants List and annual HOME AWARDS Best Customer Experience. Most recently in 2026, Hamlet was named Utah's 'Best of State for Real Estate Development and Utah Businesses 'Best Companies to Work For' for the 6th consecutive year.

White and Williams LLP Secures Trio of Cyber Coverage Wins

May 12, 2026 — Gabriel Darwick & Sean Elman - White and Williams LLP
Three weeks, three jurisdictions, three cyber wins. White and Williams picked up the first victory on March 9, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, where the court granted summary judgment to their client enforcing a Cyber Crime Loss sublimit. See Perry & Perry Builders, Inc. v. Cowbell Cyber and Obsidian Specialty Ins. Co., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49409 (E.D. Tex. Mar. 9, 2026). In Perry, the insured was deceived into transferring money intended for a vendor to an unintended third party. The insurer acknowledged that the loss was covered and paid the insured the policy’s Cyber Crime Loss sublimit. Discontent with a single sublimit, the insured argued that because it wired the money to the fraudster in separate transfers, it was entitled to a second Cyber Crime Loss sublimit. Reprinted courtesy of Gabriel Darwick, White and Williams LLP and Sean Elman, White and Williams LLP Mr. Darwick may be contacted at darwickg@whiteandwilliams.com Mr. Elman may be contacted at elmans@whiteandwilliams.com Read the full story...

Sometimes a General Damages Assessment is Enough. . .

July 06, 2026 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
It has been a while since I last posted here at Construction Law Musings. Life, law practice, and “blogger’s block” have taken their toll on the posting schedule. Hopefully this will be one of several upcoming posts now that the litigation schedule has lightened a bit over the summer. Today’s post is about damages. Specifically damage to a homeowner’s roof and her legal damages therefor. That last is of course a sentence that only a construction attorney (or other litigator) could possibly craft and have it make sense. Now, on with the case. . .In Hardesty Construction, Inc. v. Weedon, the facts are as follows: Ms. Weedon had hail damage to the roof of her home. She hired Hardesty Construction to repair and replace the roof. After the first roof was installed and failed inspection, a second roof was installed. The issue was that the first roof had a warranty and the second roof, installed similarly to the first (and allegedly with the same construction issues according to Ms. Weedon’s expert), was not provided with the promised warranty. As one may expect, Weedon sued Hardesty and Hardesty Construction for fraudulent inducement and breach of contract. At trial, Weedon testified, without objection, that her home was worth $40,000 less because of Hardesty Construction’s work, which was based partially on quotes Weedon received to fix the roof. The Circuit Court granted Hardesty Construction’s motion to strike Weedon’s fraudulent inducement claim, but not her other claims. A jury awarded Weedon $30,253.30 on her breach of contract claim. Hardesty Construction appealed, arguing the Circuit Court erred in (a) allowing the jury to consider Weedon’s valuation testimony because it was not based on her personal knowledge and (b) denying its motion to strike based on insufficient evidence as to damages. Weedon assigned cross-error in the Circuit Court’s decision to grant the motion to strike her fraudulent inducement claim against Samual Hardesty. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

At the Intersection of Indemnity and Prevailing Wages

March 17, 2026 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
In a case that I’m frankly surprised I don’t see more of, the 2nd District Court of Appeal of California examined an indemnity claim by a subcontractor against a general contractor and public entity who mistakenly believed that a construction project did not require the payment of prevailing wages. The Nabors Case In Nabors Corporate Services, Inc. v. City of Long Beach, 108 Cal.App 540 (2025), subcontractor Nabors Corporate Services, Inc. sued general contractor Tidelands Oil Production Company and the City of Long Beach after it was found liable in a class action lawsuit for failing to pay prevailing wages to its employees. Nabors’ contract with Tidelands did not require the payment of prevailing wages and neither Tidelands nor the City believed that the project, which involved “oil well plug and abandonment” work, required the payment of prevailing wages. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

PEMBERTON MINNESOTA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES