Construction and Engineering Litigation

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP’s construction and engineering team has experience litigating virtually every type of construction dispute. From numerous multi-family projects representing building suppliers to large commercial projects representing owners, contractors and materialmen, we are well positioned to provide advice before disputes begin and to prosecute or defend your interests once litigation commences. Our experience permits us to proactively manage construction disputes. We work with inside counsel and outside consultants to achieve cost-effective results.

More particularly, our firm provides construction- and engineering-related services in the following areas:

Construction Counseling

With the goal of avoiding disputes and the attendant costs of litigation, we advise our construction clients on various issues, including:

• Negotiating and drafting agreements, subcontracts, purchase orders, construction management services and joint venture agreements
• Drafting and negotiating engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreements, particularly in the area of power plant development and related equipment
• The interplay between and among the various AIA^® families of documents
• Insurance and surety matters
• Administering design and engineering agreements, including “fast-track,” fixed-price, cost-plus, design-build, build-to-suit and joint venture contracts
• Advising contractors and lenders in the construction process
• Managing construction projects to avoid or minimize future claims

Construction Claims and Litigation

If disputes become unavoidable, we have extensive experience in preparing, analyzing, defending and prosecuting virtually all types of construction claims. We have handled trials and appeals in construction cases in state and federal courts across the country. Many construction disputes are resolved in arbitration or by alternative dispute resolution, which provides a less formal setting but requires experienced counsel. We have extensive experience with these processes, including:

• Bid protests involving defective bid specifications, conflicts of interest, small and disadvantaged business concerns, “best value” determinations and related matters
• Claims for differing site conditions
• Schedule disputes, which can include issues such as delay, disruption, weather claims, acceleration and other causes for loss of labor productivity
• Federal and state false claims acts and other allegations of fraud
• Actions against payment bonds under either the federal Miller Act or the Little Miller Acts that have been enacted by various states
• Allegations of defective plans and specifications and related matters under the Spearin doctrine
• Federal Superfund and other environmental remediation projects
• Representing insurers and insureds in disputes that involve construction defects and insurance coverage questions
• Computing and contesting damages according to various damage methodologies