Source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/, May 12, 2022 Families of the 98 victims of the 2021 condominium collapse near Miami Beach, along with injured survivors, could split hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts under a preliminary settlement agreement announced Wednesday. The settlement will top $997 million, the plaintiffs’ lawyer said in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, according to reports […]

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 […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ A local architect of record (AOR) worked together with an out-of-state design architect on a new university dormitory project. With construction about 50% complete, it was discovered that several bathroom types were not in full compliance with FHA accessibility regulations. The design architect had retained an accessibility consultant, and the […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ An architect was hired to renovate a garage and kitchen for a private residence with workspace under the garage. The architect did not confirm site conditions and did not realize the lot sloped considerably in the area of the renovations. As a result, the contractor excavated to the depth defined […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ Auto Dealership Drama An architect designed an auto dealership and its scope of services included civil engineering and construction contract administration. Several years later, when the owner entered into negotiations to sell the dealership, the purchaser’s inspector discovered multiple construction defects – some of which caused water intrusion that were […]

Source: Berkley Design Professional, https://www.berkleydp.com/ Defective Administration A small architectural firm provided design and construction contract administration (CCA) services for a two-story addition to a library that was several hours from their office. The contractor was terminated by the owner after numerous construction defects were identified during construction. The owner demanded that the contractor’s bonding […]