Source: Professional Underwriters Agency (PUA) A civil engineering firm that provided professional services for a highway improvement project was named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit concerning a fatal motor vehicle accident that occurred on the highway. While the civil  engineering firm’s liability was vigorously contested, following discovery and as the matter approached […]

Source: https://insideclimatenews.org/, August 6, 2024 By: Martha Pskowski A dozen people huddle around a 10-foot deep hole in the parched West Texas soil. The group falls silent in anticipation as well-control specialist Hawk Dunlap, in a red jumpsuit, scrapes at the soil with a shovel. A lawyer in a hardhat peers down and trains his […]

Source: Professional Underwriters Agency (PUA) An interior designer specified vinyl wallcoverings on a hotel project in accordance with the brand’s specifications. Due to  alleged design and construction defects, the internal building air was more humid than anticipated,  moisture was  trapped behind the wallcoverings and mold formed. The interior designer was named as a defendant in […]

Source: https://www.epa.gov/, August 6, 2024 Today, Aug. 6, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing the emergency suspension of all registrations of the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal) under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). This is the first time in almost 40 years EPA has taken this type of emergency action, […]

Source: Professional Underwriters Agency (PUA) A landscape architect was retained by a high-net-worth client to design the  grounds of a multi-million dollar vacation  residence. The landscape architect’s services included the conceptual design of a swimming pool and surrounding hardscape, which involved the selection of stone and tiling to be used in the project to match […]

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/, August 8, 2024 By: Stephen Sorace Sixteen workers were hospitalized on Wednesday morning after “improperly mixed pool chemicals” created a hazardous reaction at the grand opening of Great Wolf Lodge in Texas, officials said. Webster city officials said in a statement that a third-party contractor caused the leak in an isolated building separate […]

Source: Professional Underwriters Agency (PUA) A claim was made against an architect for significant settlement at a project more than two years after completion. The settlement appears  to be a result of improper and insufficient geotechnical design and testing. While the architect did not retain the geotechnical engineer, the  owner alleged that the architectural and […]

Source: https://www.lexology.com/, August 1, 2024 By: Ahlia Bethea and Elizabeth Knauer, Sive Paget & Riesel PC 2024 has already been a banner year for the regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at the federal level; unsurprisingly, these efforts are eliciting legal challenges from regulated entities. CERCLA On April 19, 2024, the EPA issued a final […]

Source: https://www.phillyvoice.com/, August 2, 2024 By: Kristin Hunt Hexavalent chromium, a substance known to cause cancer, was found in four soil samples taken from the public trail at Bartram’s Garden last week. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials shared the results on a virtual town hall Wednesday night. DEP collected 11 soil samples from along the trail […]

Source: https://www.constructiondive.com/, July 31, 2024 By: Zachary Phillips The hangar at Boise Airport collapsed on Jan. 31, resulting in the deaths of Mariano Coc Och, 32, Mario Sontay Tsi, 24, and Craig Durrant, 59. Durrant was the co-founder of Big D Builders. Tsi and Och’s families filed suit against the builders earlier this month, claiming Big D […]

Source: https://interestingengineering.com/, August 1, 2024 By: Ameya Paleja The Department of Energy (DOE) has agreed to turn a former nuclear weapons development site in Washington state into a one gigawatt (GW) solar farm. Once a top-secret site producing weapons-grade plutonium, the Hanford site will soon generate clean energy as part of the DOE’s Cleanup to […]

Source: https://www.8newsnow.com/, July 26, 2024 By: Justin Walker An investigation into two cases of Legionnaires’ disease at a Las Vegas Strip resort has begun, according to Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) officials. The investigation announcement comes following the finding of two travel-associated cases of Legionnaires’ disease in guests who stayed at Caesars Palace Las Vegas […]