Garrison Minnesota Construction Expert Witness Directory

Bridging the Gap at Alaska’s Juneau Creek

September 21, 2026 — Tim Newcomb - Engineering News-Record
The largest single-span steel plate girder bridge launch in the nation wasn’t about setting records. Alaska’s Juneau Creek Bridge design was a matter of necessity. The fully erected steel plate girder bridge, featuring a 440-ft main span hovering 285 ft above the Juneau Creek, was part of the larger Sterling Highway project. It offered a logistical challenge but was chosen among over a dozen bridge types due to the unique constraints brought by the mountainous site. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tim Newcomb, Engineering News-Record
ENR may be contacted at enr@enr.com

CEO: Power Isn’t the Only Electrical Challenge for AI Data Centers

April 14, 2026 — Francesco "Frio" Iorio - Engineering News-Record
Everyone knows that data centers are voracious consumers of electricity. In fact, the U.S. is currently scrambling to meet unprecedented levels of power demand not seen since the early days of electrification and the widespread adoption of air conditioning. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Francesco "Frio" Iorio, Engineering News-Record
ENR may be contacted at enr@enr.com

Insufficient Notice of Commencement and Construction Lien Rights

August 03, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
When a party is preserving their construction lien rights, the party will look to the recorded Notice of Commencement. This is the recorded document that provides the lienor with the information for purposes of preserving construction lien rights. A Notice to Owner company will typically rely on the Notice of Commencement to serve Notices to Owners from lower tiers not in contract with the owner. However, when it comes to preparing the lien, a lienor should look beyond just the Notice of Commencement and also look to the property appraiser’s website as a backstop. In a recent case, a window company had the homeowner sign the Notice of Commencement and then filled in the information. The company naturally did this for the convenience of the homeowner that probably was unfamiliar with the Notice of Commencement process. Regardless, information in the Notice of Commencement was inaccurate. It failed to include all the real property owners. Thus, when a payment dispute arose and a construction lien was prepared, it did not identify all of the real property owners. All of the real property owners were added later during the pendency of a lien foreclosure lawsuit. The trial court denied the lien because of the defective / insufficient Notice of Commencement — the lienor assumed the risk of error by filling out the information in the Notice of Commencement. The trial court further denied the lien holding that because the work did not commence within 90 days of the Notice of Commencement, the Notice of Commencement is void. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (8/5/26) – Data Centers Reshape Hotel Demand, AI Changes Construction Workflows and Global Tariffs Raise CRE Construction Costs

August 16, 2026 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, AI creates new real estate play for VCs, Wall Street sells more rental homes, builders capitalize on flood of water projects and more!

Data center construction has the potential to be a significant opportunity for extended stay hotels in the near and long term, provided sustainable demand patterns exist within a given market. (Jenna Graber, Hotel Dive)
Artificial intelligence doesn’t represent an “extinction event” for AEC firms, but it will fundamentally change the way construction pros streamline certain tasks. (Matthew Thibault, Construction Dive)
With the 21st Century ROAD to Housing now law, there are a number of outstanding questions about implementation and compliance for multifamily pros. (Julie Strupp, Multifamily Dive)

Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

Kamran Salour Named to Los Angeles Times' 2026 Legal Visionaries List

June 02, 2026 — Lewis Brisbois
Orange County Partner and Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice Co-Chair Kamran Salour was named to the Los Angeles Times' 2026 Legal Visionaries list, which honors the most innovative attorneys in Southern California. In announcing this year's Legal Visionaries, the Times said that Mr. Salour and his co-honorees "distinguish themselves not only through skilleand results but through an unwavering commitment to their clients, their craft and the communities they serve." "Their paths – shaped by rigorous education, defining cases and purposeful leadership – offer a deeper perspective on what sets true standouts apart," the Times' announcement stated. "Together, these visionaries exemplify a forward-thinking approach to the law, elevating both their profession and the people who depend on it." Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

ACEC Research Institute Report: Real Risk of AI Isn’t Technology. It’s the Org Chart.

September 01, 2026 — ACEC Research Institute
WASHINGTON (August 19, 2026) – The ACEC Research Institute today released Leading Through AI Risk: The Enterprise Framework for Engineering Firm Leaders, a new study finding that the most significant risks artificial intelligence poses to engineering firms are organizational rather than technological, and that firms treating AI as an IT initiative are managing the wrong issue. The report, part of the Institute’s yearslong Firm of the Future initiative, combines an extensive literature review with in-depth interviews of 21 leaders drawn from engineering firms, public infrastructure owners, technology vendors, insurance and legal professionals, licensing and regulatory agencies, and AI consultants. The report groups AI risk into eight interconnected domains:

technical reliability and model risk
professional liability and standard of care risk
data governance, privacy, and intellectual property risk
organizational and workforce risk
ethical, regulatory, and reputational risk
operational and cybersecurity risk
financial and business model risk
strategic leadership and enterprise governance risk

The last serves as the integrating domain through which firms coordinate responsible AI adoption enterprise wide. The report stresses that firms do not experience these risks one at a time. Weak oversight may create legal liability. Workforce gaps may affect quality assurance. “Understanding these interactions,” the study notes, “is often more important than understanding individual risks independently.” About the ACEC Research Institute The ACEC Research Institute is the independent research arm of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). Its mission is to fund and deliver research to equip the engineering industry with actionable intelligence on the issues critical to its success. Learn more at www.acecresearchinstitute.org.

Ninth Circuit Holds That Policies Covering Environmental Claims Do Not Have Aggregate Limits

May 12, 2026 — Lorelie S. Masters & Joseph T. Niczky - Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog
In the case of County of San Bernardino v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, the Ninth Circuit recently addressed the issue of whether general liability policies issued in the 1960s and 1970s included aggregate limits for claims arising under the premises-operations coverage in CGL policies. The difference between the policyholder’s interpretation of the policies’ limits clauses and the insurer’s interpretation was worth hundreds of millions of dollars in exposure for the insurer. The Court closely examined the policy language and extrinsic evidence from both the insurance industry’s drafting history and the parties before concluding that the policies were ambiguous. The Court construed that ambiguity in favor of the policyholder and ruled that aggregate limits did not apply to the claims at issue. The Court’s decision underscores the importance of carefully examining a policy’s limits, especially for older policies written before 1986 when the insurance industry revised the standard-form CGL policy to state the aggregate limits apply not only to products liability claims but to premises-operations claims as well. Decades of insurance industry drafting history confirms, as the policyholder’s submissions in this case indicate, that the industry well understood that operations claims like the environmental waste-disposal claims at issue here typically were not subject to aggregate limits. Reprinted courtesy of Lorelie S. Masters, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and Joseph T. Niczky, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Ms. Masters may be contacted at lmasters@hunton.com Mr. Niczky may be contacted at jniczky@hunton.com Read the full story...

Steel Cooling: Steel Costs Steadily Decline After Pandemic Price Shock

May 12, 2026 — Construction Executive
Steel prices have continued trending downward after several years of volatility, according to Gordian’s latest analysis based on RSMeans Data. After dramatic spikes during the pandemic-era supply disruptions, the market has gradually stabilized as supply chains improve and demand softens in some construction segments. However, selective volatility and tariff uncertainty continue to influence pricing across the sector. Key findings from the report include:

Steel prices declining: The national average price of structural steel fell to about $2,343.93 per ton in January 2026, down 5.38% from the previous quarter and 7.18% year over year.
Longer-term price correction: Steel costs have been trending downward since 2024 after earlier volatility driven by inflation, supply shortages and global demand swings.

GARRISON MINNESOTA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES