Philadelphia Construction Law Blog

Although introduced as part of the 2013 legislative session, House Bill 427 now seems to be gaining some momentum in the state legislature. The bill, whose primary sponsor is Representative Readshaw, would impose a number of new rules for residential home builders.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives recently passed legislation which removes the exemption for harassment, stalking, or threats to use weapons of mass destruction when involved in a labor dispute from the criminal code. The bill, which can be read in its entirety here, passed the house with a vote of 115-74 and has moved over to the Senate for consideration.

There is an ongoing debate in the construction and development industry about the usefulness of building more office space. Technology has made workers more mobile, particularly when it comes to traditional “desk jobs. This discussion is prompted in part by the amount of office space already available.

A team of Kaplin Stewart attorneys recently won a significant verdict on behalf of one of its site contractor clients. Mohammad A. Ghiasuddin served as lead counsel at trial and was assisted by Mike Hogan.

Your eyes did not deceive you when you read the title. Lead paint companies were hit with a $1.15 billion verdict – that is billion with a b – in California recently. In addition to the size of the award, the theory by which it was obtained is of some interest. The question for the construction industry in this region is whether this case is a precursor to similar litigation in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware.

This week’s trivia question tests your knowledge of famous construction projects.  It involves an oft seen piece of Americana known all over the world.

The amended deadline for public comment on the new regulation pertaining to keeping records on construction worksite injuries is looming. As of today, public comment on the proposed change will close on March 8, 2014.

A recent issue of ENR raised the prospect of an interesting issue on the horizon for the construction industry: marijuana.

The next time you think your crane, backhoe, or front end loader will be there in the morning, pause for a moment and consider if you are doing all you can to protect your equipment.

It’s President’s Day. Here is a little presidential trivia that involves construction to ponder. Feel free to take a guess at the answers in our comments section below to see if you can get them all right without using the internet to look them up. The answers will be revealed in the next several days.