Construction Contract Disputes CLE

Construction Industry Controversies: Analyzing and Preventing Contract Provision Disputes
Live Telephone Seminar / Live Audio Webcast Tuition: $199Wednesday, August 26, 2009 1 pm to 2:30 pm EDT

(Receive the text A Practitioner’s Guide to Construction Law, with 2009 Supplement for FREE! See below for details).

While the "construction" side of the construction industry is mired in a nationwide recession, the controversies emanating from construction matters are not. Construction industry disputes arise most frequently on account of two reasons – misunderstandings concerning the parties' respective responsibilities and poorly drafted contract documents (which often are the cause of the confusion). These disputes often are centered on the same recurring problem areas. This 90-minute audio program will help conference participants learn what issues repeatedly arise in today's construction industry disputes, which contract provisions most often cause them, and how these problems can be avoided through good communication and draftsmanship.

Topics to be covered include:

1)Delay and other impact claims;
2)Guaranteed maximum price
3)Liability limitation provisions
4)Changes
5)Unforeseen site conditions
6)Prompt payment issues

More information...
Special Book Offer - Register for the telephone seminar or the audio webcast, or attend the Construction Industry Controversies: Analyzing and Preventing Contract Provision Disputes and get the ALI-ABA text A Practitioner’s Guide to Construction Law, with 2009 Supplement for FREE (a $159 value)! Cannot be combined with other offers.

"Great CLE makes great lawyers. Meet your CLE requirements with ALI-ABA today!"©ALI-ABA 4025 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 215.243.1600 www.ali-aba.org

Commercial Leases and Bankruptcy CLE

Commercial Leases and Bankruptcy: Strategies for Landlords and Tenants
Live Telephone Seminar / Live Audio Webcast Tuition: $199Thursday, August 20, 2009-

1 pm to 2 pm EDT

How can landlords protect their financial interests? How can tenants turn to bankruptcy protection to safeguard their assets?

As more and more businesses battle financial trouble, commercial landlords are dealing with outstanding rent payments while their tenants vacate in droves. While The Bankruptcy Code offers protections both to commercial landlords and tenants it also raises a number of complex legal issues. Counsel for both parties must consider effective strategies to protect against the fallout from tenant bankruptcy.

Topics include:
What are the significant issues that arise when a commercial tenant files for bankruptcy?
What are the best practices for mitigating risk of loss for both tenants and landlords?
What are the current trends for commercial tenant bankruptcy?
What are the breach issues that occur in both reorganization cases and liquidation cases?
What are the two discretionary collection tools and one automatic collection tool available in every bankruptcy case?

More information...

"Great CLE makes great lawyers. Meet your CLE requirements with ALI-ABA today!"©ALI-ABA 4025 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 215.243.1600 http://www.ali-aba.org/

Featured Resource: "Green Shoots" -- a commercial real estate's green building blog

One blog worth visiting is Green Shoots, a commercial real estate blog on green building. It is operated through the National Real Estate Investor web site.

The site focuses on the latest news, data and analysis of the real estate green building industry as it evolves. Readers will find useful information regarding green leases, valuations, financing, and government regulations and incentives for new and existing buildings.

Click here to access the blog.

Ohio County Courts Vary in Accepting New Judicial Commitment Endorsement

Republished with Permission from Chicago Title

At the end of 2008, the Ohio Department of Insurance approved a new rate rule which allows for the modification of a standard owner's commitment to be used in judicial foreclosures of both residential property (comprising of four or more single family units) and commercial property.

The new rule allows extension of the commitment coverage beyond the normal contractual time of six months, to a date 30 days after the recording of the deed in the name of the new owner at judicial sale. This rule only applies when both polices (or endorsements) are issued by the same underwriter. The new rule took effect on December 1, 2008.

The premium for this new endorsement (known as a Judicial Commitment Endorsement) is set at $.50 per $1000 based upon at least the unpaid balance of the foreclosed-upon lien and is used in lieu of the standard title guaranty premium, which compared to the $3.50 per $1000 premium for conventional Preliminary Judicial Reports, can result in significant savings. In addition, unlike the cost of the title guaranty, the premium paid for the title commitment with the Judicial Commitment Endorsement can be credited toward the purchase of an ALTA Owner's Policy by the lender after the Sheriff's Deed has been recorded.

Most of the county courts in Ohio have not changed their local rules to accommodate this rule change. If the court does not require Preliminary Judicial Reports by their current rules, they are more likely to accept the title commitment with the Judicial Commitment Endorsement. The three largest Ohio counties -- Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Hamilton -- do accept the commitment. Counties close to Cuyahoga County (Lake, Summit, Geauga, Lorain) presently do not, however, the potential cost savings involved make it worthwhile to educate the remaining county magistrates about this new title product.

Chicago Title has been serving Ohio for over 50 years. Through their nationwide network, they provide title insurance, underwriting, escrow and closing services to every spectrum of the real estate industry. For more information, visit them at www.cticnow.com.

An Overview of Green Rating Systems

Article written by Scott Wick, summer associate at Kohrman Jackson & Krantz

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a green building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) used to measure how successfully a building meets various environmental standards. While LEED is the most widely known green rating system, it is important to understand that there are many alternatives.

One popular and widely recognized alternative to LEED is Green Globes, sponsored by the Green Building Initiative (GBI). Like LEED, Green Globes is a rating system developed to emphasize energy saving, environmentally-friendly design and construction practices. Both programs have much in common, but there are some distinct differences.

The most striking similarity between LEED and Green Globes is the structure of the rating system used by each program. Both are third-party certified programs that operate based on point systems with the potential to earn one of four possible levels of achievement:

The newest version of LEED (LEED v3), introduced in early 2009, rates building projects on a 100 point scale (plus 10 possible bonus points) in the following areas:
• Sustainable Sites
• Water Efficiency
• Energy and Atmosphere
• Materials and Resources
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Innovation in Design
• Regional Priority

Each LEED category has a maximum possible number of points. The better the overall score, the higher the level of LEED certification:

• Certified (40-49 points)
• Silver (50-59 points)
• Gold (60-79 points)
• Platinum (80 points and above)

Green Globes maintains a 1,000 maximum possible point scale in the following areas:

• Energy
• Indoor Environment
• Site
• Resources
• Water
• Emissions and Effluents
• Project Management

The program awards Green Globes based on a percentage of the total points possible that a project achieves:

• Four Green Globes (85-100%)
• Three Green Globes (70-84%)
• Two Green Globes (55-69%)
• One Green Globe (35-54%)

Both LEED and Green Globes are effective programs for rating development projects. There is approximately an 80-85% overlap between the points rated by each program. The rating structure for indoor environmental quality and site selection are comparable between the two.

However, one striking difference is the manner by which each program counts points. LEED rating is based on the total number of points possible from the seven areas of analysis. However, some projects are in essence penalized because not all areas that earn points apply to every project. The Green Globe rating, on the other hand, is based on a percentage of possible points rather than total points. This means that there are no penalties for missing out on points from areas of assessment that are not applicable to a given project.

Another key distinction is that Green Globes places a greater emphasis on energy savings while LEED has a stronger emphasis on the selection and use of material resources. Also, in terms of energy savings, LEED focuses on more efficient use of fossil fuels while Green Globes provides higher ratings for projects that utilize alternative sources of energy.

Also, LEED is more comprehensive and stringent, but it is also bogged down in greater administrative hurdles and much more expensive. While LEED v3 provides some online capabilities, something that earlier versions lacked, Green Globes was designed as an online tool, which is very user-friendly and extremely inexpensive in comparison to LEED.

Finally, it is important to realize that other options exist beside LEED and Green Globes. The links below connect to other organizations and similar rating programs that assess development projects or a specific aspect of development related to green building. The key is to know that there are options out there and to determine which program best serves the needs of a particular development project.

• LEED
• Green Globes
• SBIS
• Energy Star
• STARS
• GreenGuard


For more information on green rating systems and green building codes, see our earlier posts:

“LEED: The Good, Bad and Ugly”
and
"Green Building Codes: The alternative to LEED and other rating systems"