Roadway Projects and Bodily Injury Claims In 2023, Great American’s Risk Management Newsletter Series focused on contract provisions and ways to tighten your contract language to best protect you and your firm. This year we will be concentrating on trending…
Like many things you may not have covered extensively (or at all) in architecture school, certifying the Contractor’s application for payment is an underemphasized but critical component of an Architect’s construction phase services. While review of applications for payment may…
THE INDEMNIFICATION CLAUSE Great American’s Professional Liability’s “Year of the Contract” is coming to an end. Over the last 12 months, we have dissected various contract provisions that should be carefully reviewed and analyzed to best protect design professionals when…
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES We often discuss commonly used terms such as ‘indemnification’ and ‘standard of care’ when attempting to manage risk via your project contracts. There are, of course, many other provisions that must be carefully reviewed and considered as part…
WAIVERS OF SUBROGATION In the complex world of construction and design, professional contracts are very important to both successful projects and limiting potential claims against design professionals. These agreements outline all parties’ responsibilities, expectations, and legal obligations. Amongst the many…
SUCCESSOR DESIGN PROFESSIONAL It is likely that at some point in your career, you will be asked to replace another design professional on a project. While the thrill of new opportunities and donning your superhero cape to save a project…
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTRACTUAL TERMINATION PROVISIONS The primary purpose of a contract is to expressly detail the rights and obligations of the parties. As such, a well-crafted contract will provide guidance on how to proceed in specific situations. For instance,…
The Standard of Care is the legal yardstick by which our legal system measures the conduct of licensed professionals. If you are careful in rendering your professional services, you are meeting the standard of care. If you are being professionally…
Corporate Veil When you get the dreaded summons in the mail notifying you of a suit with allegations of negligence and defective design and construction on a recent project, you notify your potential liability insurers and believe it will be…
GREAT AMERICAN 2023 RESOLUTION CHALLENGE TAKE 2: A BETTER CONTRACT Drink more water. Spend less money. Establish an exercise regimen. We all made these cliched New Year’s resolutions to better ourselves as we entered the new year (present company included)!…