Source: https://www.pressherald.com/, April 5, 2022 By: Keith Edwards An underground explosion Monday morning at the Exit 43 Quik Stop, off Route 197 near Interstate 295 in Richmond, forced temporary closure of the gas station and convenience store, prompted evacuation of nearby businesses and led to a brief road closure, according to officials. Chief John Bellino […]

Source: https://www.vcstar.com/, April 1, 2022 By: Cheri Carlson California regulators have ordered Boeing to clean up lead-contaminated soil in Sage Ranch Park in Simi Valley. The state Department of Toxic Substances Control says the cleanup is required on about 31 acres contaminated by lead shot, skeet fragments and clay pigeon debris left over from when the area […]

Source: https://www.claimsjournal.com/, March 29, 2022 By: Tom Hals Bayer AG reached an $80 million settlement with Ohio to resolve environmental damage allegedly caused by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, made by the company’s Monsanto business, the state attorney general said on Thursday. The funds from the German company, which did not admit liability, will be used […]

Source: https://nj1015.com/, April 4, 2022 By: Patrick Lavery The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has filed a lawsuit seeking damages against Connecticut-based Hexcel Corporation, which for 13 years operated a manufacturing plant in this Bergen County borough where storage tanks leaked fuel and toxic chemicals into the groundwater. In a release Monday, the state Office […]

Source: https://sfist.com/, April 11, 2022 By: Joe Kukura A three-year legal battle leaves Lennar Inc. and developer FivePoint Holdings on the hook for $6.3 million, after a U.S. District Court judge just approved a settlement with homeowners who were misled and bought property contaminated with toxic waste. The so-called “revitalization” of the Hunters Point Shipyard had a […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ A large multi-discipline engineering firm working on a design-build project was retained by a general contractor to review payment applications for certification of the project to the owner and lender. Correspondence between the contractor and policyholder indicated that those reviews were to be “desktop reviews” only without a requirement for […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ A surveyor was retained by a general contractor to perform construction staking for a new multi-family residential development adjacent to a waterway. Negotiations had occurred with adjacent property owners to adjust the rear-yard setback of the new project to preserve open space views from the adjacent properties. The project’s site […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ A small civil/survey firm had a master agreement with a municipality to provide on-call engineering services and periodic site inspections. The firm’s individual projects were handled with a purchase order, not a contract. On a road improvement project a motorcyclist was severely injured when the driver lost control and crashed […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ Grading for a new road entering private land for a new office building abutting a state highway was determined utilizing a drone survey. The civil-surveyor neglected to field check benchmark elevations from the aerial survey with actual elevations at the interface of the property to the state highway. The new […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ Elevation data for curb height was improperly represented in the CAD files and plotted to the hard copy construction documents for a 2,500 linear-foot-portion of a concrete curb surrounding a large bus storage parking area. The policyholder, a civil/surveyor firm, neglected to perform a check of the 2D construction document […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ A surveyor was retained by a contractor to stake the corners of a new single-family house. The surveyor referred to a site plan and utility data that was out of date. An updated site plan, including revised building location and existing utility information, was issued by the architect and civil […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ An architect completed the design for a multi-use project which included retail, office and residential components. The project was put on hold prior to construction. Eighteen months later, the developer approached the architect and wanted to put the project out to bid. Unfortunately, in the interim, several local building codes […]