Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner issued a long (82 pages) and complex ruling rejecting all of the claims for relief requested by Environment Texas Citizen Lobby, Inc. and Sierra Club from ExxonMobil Corporation, ExxonMobil Chemical Company and ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company. In reaching its decision, the Court conducted…
Yesterday, the California Contractors State License Board Chairman David Dias announced the selection of Chief Deputy Registrar Cindi A. Christenson to serve as the board’s new Registrar of Contractors, effective January 1, 2015. Her qualifications include having served as the CSLB’s second in command since 2009. Dias also noted that…
The Sacramento Business Journal in Arena builders hitting some — but not all — targets for local and small-business contracts reports on the progress of the Sacramento Entertainment and Sports Center (ESC), including confirming that the “oversight committee says the Sacramento Kings are exceeding commitments to hire local companies to…
A report titled Validity of Caltrans’ Environmental Hydrogen Embrittlement Test on Grade BD Anchor Rods in the SAS Span dated December 2, 2014 prepared by Yun Chung, Materials Engineer (Retired), purportedly for Steve Heminger, Chair, Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee recently surfaced. Seven other professors, consultants and engineers purportedly reviewed…
In the 2012 case of Texas Rice Land Partners, Ltd., et al., v. Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas, LLC, 363 S. W. 3d 192 (Tex. 2012), the Texas Supreme Court held that the routine and ministerial issuance of a common carrier pipeline permit to Denbury Green did not conclusively establish the pipeline’s…
The Texas Supreme Court confirmed that it will hear oral arguments in McGinnes Indus. Maint. Corp. v. The Phoenix Ins. Co., et al., No. 13-20360, case on January 15, 2015. The issue was certified to the Texas Supreme Court by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 11, 2014.…
On December 1, 2014, the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (Judge Zainey presiding) issued a ruling in the case of The Parish of Plaquemines v. Total Petrochemical & Refining USA, Inc., et. al. The court granted the motion of the Parish to remand to state…
In Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. AMSCO Windows, No. 13-4155, 2014 WL 6679589, at *3 (10th Cir. Nov. 26, 2014), the United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, held that construction defects brought against a window manufacturer (“AMSCO”) were “occurrences” as defined under the manufacturer’s Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) policies and,…
On September 30, 2014, Governor Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. signed into law California Assembly Bill 26 and Assembly Bill 2272, both of which are effective January 1, 2015. Existing law requiring payment of prevailing wages defines “public work” to include, in part, “[c]onstruction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work…
On November 26, 2014, the U.S. District Court for Hawaii issued a ruling holding that a Hawaii County Ordinance purporting to place restrictions on the “open air cultivation, propagation development or testing of genetically engineered crops or plants” was preempted by state laws empowering the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to…