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Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog

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The Five P’s — Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance

You’d be surprised at how often we find mistakes at the beginning of projects that, if not caught, would put most of a client’s insurance coverage at risk. Clients frequently ask us to review their controlled insurance programs (often referred to as “CIPs” or “Wrap-Ups”) before implementing them. Brokers do…

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Court Affirms City’s Discretion to Waive Bid Defect, Clarifying the Meaning of Inconsequential Deviation

Recently a California Court of Appeal affirmed a superior court’s judgment and order confirming that the City of San Leandro (City) had not abused its discretion by waiving a bid defect and awarding the public project contract to that bidder. The court, in Bay Cities Paving & Grading, Inc. v.…

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Virginia Governor Declares May 2 – 9, 2014 Women in Construction Week

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, 2014 Women in Construction Week (Mar. 2, 2014) — “NOW, THEREFORE, I, Terence R. McAuliffe, do hereby recognize March 2-9, 2014, as WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION WEEK in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.”

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Subcontractors Are Victorious, Iowa State Agency Required To Cover General Contractor’s Payment Shortfalls

Star Equipment, Ltd., Manatt’s, Inc., and Short’s Concrete Cutting Co. recently secured a victory in the Iowa Supreme Court when the Court, in Star Equipment, Ltd., v. State of Iowa, Iowa Department of Transportation, Case No. 12-1378 (Jan. 31, 2014), reversed the district court’s ruling on the scope of remedies…

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70 Days and Counting: Clock Is Ticking to Claim Embedded Software Tax Exemption

Today, Pillsbury attorneys Lawrence L. Hoenig, Craig A. Becker, Richard E. Nielsen, Dianne L. Sweeney, Matthew F. Burke and Breann Robowski posted their advisory titled 70 Days and Counting: Clock Is Ticking to Claim Embedded Software Tax Exemption. The advisory encourages companies to review California’s embedded software exemption, an established…

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What is the Construction Industry’s “Bliss Score”?

Recently I’ve come across a number of articles reporting on what I will refer to as the “bliss” factor for employees, measuring, for example, happiness with their current career path, with the city in which they work, etc. CareerBliss has published a number of bliss lists, evaluating what it considers…

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2014 Project Finance – United States

Co-head of Pillsbury’s Energy Industry team Rob James and project finance partner Philip Tendler recently published 2014 Project Finance – United States. In it, they discuss collateral, how security interests are perfected and prioritized, liens, and enforcement of collateral. In addition, they touch on bankruptcy, foreign exchange, remittances, repatriation, offshore…

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U.S. Solar Decathlon 2015: Teams Announced

The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced that the following 20 collegiate teams have been selected to compete in the U.S. Solar Decathlon 2015 that will be held at the Orange County Great Park, located between Los Angeles and San Diego, in Irvine, California: California Polytechnic State University California State…

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World’s Largest CSP Plant Opened February 13

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System — the largest concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the world — officially opened on February 13, 2014. According to its website, “[l]ocated in the Mojave Desert, Ivanpah has 347,000 garage door-sized mirrors distributed across 173,500 heliostats. The heliostats track with the sun so…

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Surprisingly, California Didn’t Make The Top Out-Bound Or In-Bound States Lists … But, You Might Be Surprised By Which Did

UPDATE: Chief Executive Magazine, Best & Worst States for Business (May 2014) — In the 10th annual survey of CEOs, over 500 CEOs across the U.S. graded states with which they were familiar on a variety of measures, including the tax and regulatory regime, the quality of the workforce and…