Consent to assignments, often referred to in the banking industry as “will-serve letters,” come in many different forms. However, at its most basic, an engineer’s Consent to Assignment is an agreement under which the engineer acknowledges that the design agreement has been assigned to the owner’s lender. …
Design agreements often stipulate that neither the owner nor the engineer can assign the agreement without the consent of the other party. As a result, the engineer may be asked to sign a “Consent to Assignment” (sometimes referred to as an “Acknowledgement and Consent”) from the bank providing the construction loan. …
The article Understanding Indemnification Clauses published in the January 2017 issue of STRUCTURE provided an overview of indemnification clauses. A second article, Understanding the Difference Between Indemnification and Insurance, published in the February 2017 issue of STRUCTURE took a closer look at indemnification clauses and compared indemnification with insurance. In both of those articles, the focus was on the indemnification obligations of the structural engineer. In this article, we will look at indemnification of the structural engineer. …
Indemnification clauses in design agreements are often considered to be “boilerplate” – something to be read quickly (if at all) after the parties have agreed on the scope of work and compensation. However, if a claim arises from the engineer’s services, an overly broad indemnification clause can create an uninsurable and potentially costly liability for the engineer. …
When design professionals review proposed contracts with their risk management consultants, they are invariably told that they should look closely at provisions that could create uninsurable risk and negotiate better language. One issue that often arises is the language of the indemnification clause. The reason for this is simple – indemnification clauses can shift significant risks to the design professional, and these risks may not be insurable. …
One Lawyer’s View on Professional Writing for Engineers
You probably did not go to engineering school to learn to write… and you probably did not take your job for its writing opportunities. Admit it; you probably look forward to drafting written communications about as much as you do reviewing steel shop drawings. However, if you have read any of the author’s earlier articles, you know the importance of the latter task. The former is just as critical. …
Qui tam. Don’t know the phrase? You should. It is short for qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, Latin for “who as well for the king as for himself sues in this matter.” Qui tam lawsuits are, according to Black’s Law Dictionary, lawsuits brought under a law “that allows a private person to sue for a penalty, part of which the government or some specified public institution will receive.” …
In enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), Congress found that individuals with disabilities continually encountered discrimination in the form of architectural barriers. To address this discrimination in privately-owned facilities, Title III of the ADA mandated that all commercial facilities and places of public accommodation constructed after January 26, 1993, be “readily accessible to and usable by” individuals with disabilities. …
Part 2: A Malpractice Primer for Structural Engineers
Part 1 of this series (STRUCTURE, June 2014) built the foundation for understanding structural engineering malpractice. We explained concepts like liability and claims, generally, and tort liability specifically. On top of that foundation, we erected the framework, examining the basic elements of structural engineering malpractice, starting with the concept of duty. …
Tort – the word is familiar (even in a non-pastry context), as are its menacing children: malpractice and negligence. They trigger visceral reactions in many a structural engineer (and lawyer). The word “tort” creeps in and out of the public consciousness, perhaps most often with its partner du jour: “reform.”
We hope to avoid torts. As structural engineers, however, we cannot ignore them, for tort law sets the standard that our professional engineering services are expected to meet or exceed. …