Trends in Construction Claims & Disputes:
The Best Offense is a Good Defense – Or Vice Versa?

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This WPL Publishing webinar reports on what the newest trends are in construction claims and disputes as well as offers advice to industry professionals about how they can minimize problems resulting from these trends.

During the recession, the number of projects and construction companies declined even though the number of claims rose. From this growth, several trends have developed, including declining construction dispute values accompanied by increasing durations, court and appeals board decisions limiting damage recovery, increased use of false-claims allegations in response to contractor claims, and contractors trying to create new forms of claims. The webinar explores these growing trends and ways to mitigate or avoid their negative impacts on construction claims and disputes.

“Trends in Construction Claims and Disputes: The Best Offense is a Good Defense -- Or Vice Versa?” will cover the following topics:

• The increase in devalued construction claims that take longer to resolve.
• The growing number of limitations on recovery of damages that are related to concurrent delay, compensable delay, suspensions of work, notice and filing requirements, time extensions, extended home office overhead, risk-transfer clauses, and differing site conditions.
• The increased use of false-claims laws to ward off claims.
• The emergence of constructive claims, “underinspection” claims, “equipment lost productivity” claims, and “expanded” general-conditions claims.
   

 Who Will Benefit?

This webinar is a must if you’re a public or private owner, construction manager, contractor, subcontractor, consultant, architect or engineer. 

Meet Your Presenters:

James Zack is the Navigant Construction Forum's executive director. The Forum strives to serve as the construction industry’s resource for thought leadership and best practices on avoidance and resolution of construction project disputes globally. He has served as the executive director of corporate claims management for Fluor Corp., one of the world’s largest publicly owned engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance contractors working in the areas of energy, chemicals, infrastructure, manufacturing, life sciences, and mining. He also served as vice president of PinnacleOne, executive director of the PinnacleOne Institute, and a senior construction claims consultant for CH2M HILL Inc. For nearly 40 years, he has worked on both private and public projects. In the construction claims field, he is a recognized and published expert in mitigation, analysis, and resolution or defense of construction claims and disputes. 

Stephen Pitaniello is a managing director with Navigant’s Global Construction Practice and a registered professional engineer with more than 23 years of diverse construction and engineering experience. His broad range of construction experience includes construction management, engineering design, estimating, contract administration, and construction inspection in the public and private sectors. Throughout his career, he has acquired solid project management skills by directly managing construction projects and teams of junior engineers and tradesmen. As a consultant, his experience includes Critical Path Method (CPM) schedule development and analysis, owner’s representation services, and project-controls development. His experience also includes the preparation and analysis of various complex delay, acceleration, loss of productivity, and professional liability claims. He has been retained by owners, design professionals, contractors, subcontractors and their counsel and regularly provides services to include schedule delay analyses, damage analyses, productivity analyses, disputed extra work reviews, technical issue analysis, litigation support, and expert testimony on various complex construction projects. He has performed these services on various projects to include airports, bridges, highways, correctional facilities, hospitals, power plants, railroad projects, retail, schools, universities, utility projects, and sports complexes. He has provided expert testimony in mediation, arbitration, and depositions.