David Cook will be speaking at the upcoming 8th Annual Construction Law & Government Contracting Seminar. The Seminar will be held on October 8 – 9 in Atlanta and will focus on important topics in construction law and government …
Negligence
Georgia Supreme Court Addresses Anti-Indemnity Statute
In prior blog posts, we addressed Georgia’s anti-indemnity statute. One of the posts addressed the statute in the context of an electric utility easement near an airport. That case made its way to the Supreme Court Georgia, which provided some …
Court Dismisses Cross Claims Against Utility Based on Construction Anti-Indemnity Statute
When a plane crashed and several passengers and crew died or were injured, their representatives sued several defendants, including a nearby plant owner, Milliken & Company (“Plant Owner”), based on claims that transmission lines on Plant Owner’s property were too …
Savannah homeowners win sizable judgment in mold case against HVAC contractor
Two Savannah homeowners filed a complaint against a local air conditioning contractor and its insurer, asserting claims of professional negligence and fraud. The couple alleged that in March 2009, the contractor replaced the duct system of their home’s air conditioning …
Atlanta Bar Construction Newsletter Article
Autry, Hall & Cook attorney David Cook contributed an article to the Atlanta Bar Construction Law Section. The article addresses a recent case that involved several important construction litigation issues, including:
- the Acceptance Doctrine,
- absence of privity in a
Acceptance Doctrine Revisited
A recent construction case addressed the Acceptance Doctrine and a potentially broad exception that prevented its application to a negligent-construction claim.
The case involved structural damage to a newly constructed Holiday Inn Express resulting from settlement of rear parking lot, …
Professional vs. Ordinary Negligence Claims Against Contractors and Engineers
The Georgia Court of Appeals recently addressed the distinction between professional negligence vis‑à‑vis simple negligence. This distinction was particularly important in Hamilton-King v. HNTB Georgia, Inc., 2011 WL 2716073 (2011) because the trial court previously excluded Plaintiffs’ expert testimony, …