Legal Developments In Construction Law: May 2023

1. Court of Appeal says co-insurance all risks policy does not cover contractor for defective work
The Rugby Football Union took out a Joint Names All Risks Insurance policy for works at Twickenham Stadium. Power cables forming part of the works were damaged and had to be replaced and the RFU, which alleged that the damage had been caused by defective design and installation of ductwork for the cables, recovered the cable replacement costs from […]

By | May 16th, 2023 ||

Developer And Contractor Obligations In CHIPS Act-Funded Construction Projects

The Situation: The CHIPS Act provides over $50 billion in the form of grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other programs to incentivize semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. The U.S. Department of Commerce recently began accepting applications for funding of projects covered by the CHIPS Act.

Background: A requirement of receiving CHIPS Act funding is compliance with the prevailing wage obligations of the Davis-Bacon Act (“DBA”). The Obama administration previously interpreted a nearly identical requirement in the […]

By | May 6th, 2023 ||

Context Is Key In Claim Construction

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reiterated that intrinsic evidence trumps extrinsic evidence in determining the meaning of claim terms. Sequoia Technology, LLC v. Dell, Inc. et al., Case Nos. 21-2263; -2264; -2265; -2266 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 12, 2023) (Stoll, Lourie, Dyk, JJ.)

Sequoia Technology owns a patent directed to data storage methods involving storing the same data across multiple physical disk drives to make up a virtual disk drive. Sequoia asserted the […]

By | April 29th, 2023 ||