Blog Archives | McAlpine Attorneys and Counselors

McAlpine, PC Is Proud to Have Helped a General Contractor Client Defeat a $5 Million Claim Against It in Arbitration While Also Winning an Award of Over $1 Million in the Client’s Favor

Our general contractor client was sued for over $5 million for alleged delays in the completion of a large hotel repositioning/refurbishment project. We counter-sued on behalf of our client for over $1 million in its unpaid contract balance. The client was an experienced hotel restoration/repositioning contractor with a long history of working with many of …

McAlpine, PC Client Sued for $23 Million on Public Works Project; Walks Away Receiving $3.3 Million in the Settlement—We Used Creative ADR To Resolve the Case

McAlpine, PC recently won the dismissal of one of its general contractor clients from complex multi-party construction litigation threatening to ruin the company. However, we successfully achieved a settlement that paid the client over $3.3 million and resulted in the dismissal of over $20 million in claims against it. We did it by aggressively using a customized …

Mark McAlpine Named Exclusively Recommended Construction Law Attorney in Michigan

McAlpine, PC is pleased to announce that Mark L. McAlpine, its founding principal, and Managing Partner, has been named by The Construction Lawyers publication as its exclusively recommended construction law attorney in Michigan. For over 35 years, Mr. McAlpine has practiced construction law and litigation here in Michigan and throughout the country. TCL joins a …

Anatomy of a Case: Irving Tissue Project

THE PROJECT The Irving Tissue Project involved the installation of a new paper machine and accompanying construction in New York. McAlpine represented the pipe installer, a multi‐skilled contractor from Michigan. All of the pipe for the project was provided by an independent fabricator. During the construction, the owner made numerous design changes. The fabricator cited …

Anatomy of a Case: Grosse Ile Township

THE PROJECT The North‐South Interceptor Project involved the installation of 2 to 4 foot sewer pipes at depths of over 50 feet. The Project was mandated by the State of Michigan to prevent the discharge of raw sewage into the Detroit River. Grosse Ile and its engineers selected micro‐tunneling as the installation method and conducted …

Federal False Claims Act Expansion

The Federal False Claims Act (FCA) imposes liability for making false claims to the Federal Government. Violations of the FCA can result in triple damages, plus attorney fees and fines of up to $10,000 for every false claim. It also can result in the surrender of the entire claim (even the legitimate portions). Through its …

No Relief from Written Change Order Requirement

The Michigan Court of Appeals has held that, absent clear and convincing evidence of waiver, a contractor will not be relieved of the written change‐order requirement of its contract. In Field Construction, Inc. v Midfield Concession Enterprises, Inc., the plaintiff‐contractor was under contract to build restaurants at the Wayne County Metro Airport. The contractor undertook …

No Liability for Architect’s Interference with Public Contract Award

The Michigan Supreme Court has overturned an appellate court decision holding an architect liable for unfairly recommending a contract award on a public construction project. In Cedroni & Associates, Inc. v. Tomblinson, Harburn Associates, a school district hired an architectural firm to assist it in the bid selection process by evaluating the contractors’ bids and …

Court Overturns Contractor Tort Immunity

The Michigan Supreme Court has overturned a court of appeals decision holding that a contractor was not liable for harm caused by its negligence because the conduct in question was covered by contract. The case, Loweke v. Ann Arbor Ceiling & Partition Co., centered on a claim by an electrical subcontractor’s employee who was injured …

McAlpine PC Files Class Action Suit Against Flint’s Water Treatment Engineers

On January 25, 2016, McAlpine PC filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the citizens of Flint against Texas-based Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. (“LAN”) in connection with its role in causing the widely-publicized lead contamination of Flint’s drinking water. LAN was retained by the City of Flint to take overall charge of placing …

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