Articles & Resources

6/28/2018

Pennsylvania Waves Goodbye to CASPA Waiver

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

When in 1994, the Pennsylvania legislature initially passed prompt payment protection for contractors and subcontractors by enacting the Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act, commonly referred to as CASPA, construction contractors, particularly those acting in subcontractor roles, presumed that this legislative pronouncement preserved forever their rights to receive prompt payment for their work. Unfortunately, in the years that followed many subcontractors, ...

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10/12/2017

Another Important Heads-Up If You Do Business With The Pennsylvania Department of General Services

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

There is an old adage that those who do business with the government do so at their own peril. This would apply to construction contractors doing business with the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. Contractors who have performed work for Pennsylvania taxpayers through the Department of General Services are quite familiar with the concept that DGS designates each and every ...

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8/23/2017

Recent Changes to the AIA Form Contract Documents

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

Like the United States Census Bureau's counting of the American people once every decennial, so too does the American Institute of Architects introduce new versions of its form contract documents. Earlier this year, the AIA introduced to the construction industry several new versions of its form construction documents. The AIA has been issuing new and revised versions of its form ...

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5/31/2017

Pennsylvania State Construction Notices Directory: A Call to Action

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

Over the past few months I have written several articles and presented several seminars about the changes to the Pennsylvania Mechanic’s Lien Law, specifically concerning the new requirements for construction owners, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers and the Pennsylvania State Construction Notices Directory. Under the amendment, the Pennsylvania legislature, among other things, directed the Pennsylvania Department of General Services to build ...

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12/20/2016

Pennsylvania State Construction Notices Directory To Go Live

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

As a follow-up to previous articles, we are again reminding clients that the requirement for subcontractors and suppliers to file Notices of Furnishing in order to preserve their mechanic’s lien rights begins December 29, 2016 based on information provided by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. This new requirement established by an amendment to the Mechanic’s Lien Statute (Act 142 ...

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12/01/2016

“Plumber’s Work,” Now Clear as Mud

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

One would think that experienced contractors, construction managers, and project engineers could easily explain what plumbing work is. For sure, any first-year plumbing apprentice could precisely recite a definition of plumbing work, right? For just as surely as water flows downhill, it is a plumber who installs sewer, water, and drain pipes. Well, a recent Pennsylvania trial ...

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6/03/2016

Overtime Changes Coming

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

President Obama this past week made final the Department of Labor's proposed rule making more than 4 million additional workers eligible for overtime pay. The major change of the new rule requiring payment to employees at the rate of 1 1/2 times the employee's regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a work week is the change in ...

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7/10/2015

Court Further Confines CASPA

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

After more than 20 years since its passage, the Pennsylvania courts are still being presented with novel case scenarios implicating the breadth of the applicability of the Pennsylvania Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act (73 P.S. §501, et seq.), commonly referred to as CASPA, and are still defining the borders and periphery of the coverage of the Act.

In the ...

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4/14/2015

Adhesion: Don’t Get Stuck

Author: | | Comments (0) Posted by

“Adhesion” is defined as the act of sticking or attaching to something. Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2015. Web. 13 March 2015. Under Pennsylvania law, contracts of adhesion are standard form contracts prepared by one party, to be signed by the party in the weaker position, usually a consumer, who adheres to the contract with little choice about the terms. Romero v. Allstate ...

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2/20/2015

Public Officials Cannot “privatize” Their Communications

Author: Thomas O. Williams | | Comments (0) Posted by

A Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decision dated February 5, 2015 has provided citizens and public officials with further clarification as to what information constitutes a “public record” and, therefore, is accessible to citizens under the recently amended Pennsylvania Right to Know Law, and what remains private information and, therefore, inaccessible to citizens of the Commonwealth. In the case of Paint ...

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