Practice Areas & Industries: Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Construction Industry Knowledge and Experience

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's attorneys have broad experience in many areas of construction law. We are able to draft, review and provide guidance to our clients concerning construction contracts, bidding documents,and other agreements related to project design, specification, construction and financing. We counsel clients on construction dispute avoidance, claim preservation and alternative dispute resolution. When necessary, we protect our client's interests through litigation.

Through Buchanan's interdisciplinary approach, we are able to offer each client the full benefit of our experience by drawing on the experience of attorneys from practice areas throughout the firm, depending on the needs and intricacies of any legal matter.

Diverse Construction Litigation Experience

We have represented local, regional and national companies in many segments of the building design and construction industry, including owners, residential and commercial real estate developers, building construction general contractors, special trade contractors and subcontractors, design professionals, architects and engineers. Our firm has successfully litigated construction claims in state courts, federal courts and in a variety of arbitration forums. Our construction litigation experience includes the following:

• Representation of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Sports and Exhibition Authority in a variety of matters related to the construction of Heinz Field, including a suit to recover the cost of corrective work necessary to remedy premature corrosion and severe rusting on the metal egress stairs and octagonal entrance and exit ramps.
• Currently representing the University of Pittsburgh in two major lawsuits arising out of construction of the Petersen Events Center, including a suit to recover the cost of replacing the roof on the facility.
• Defended the University of Delaware and its joint venture partner in many mechanics' line actions and other construction disputes arising out of the defalcations and defaults of a general contractor who was engaged to build a hotel on the University's campus for use by the school's convention center and School of Hotel Management.
• Successfully defended the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in several actions brought by disappointed bidders seeking to enjoin public construction projects undertaken by those entities.
• Won a $2.5 million verdict for the Harrisburg Sewerage Authority in litigation against design engineers and contractors for faulty design and construction of a wastewater treatment plant.
• Obtained a $1.5 million pretrial settlement for a Chicago bridge contractor against the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
• Won a defense verdict for a Pittsburgh steel fabricator after a six-week trial in federal court where the claim arose from the failure of the granite facade on a thirty-story office building.
• Defended the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in a state court action brought by an underground coal mine owner to block construction of the Mon Fayette Expressway.
• Prosecuted a subrogation claim on behalf of an architect's errors and omissions carrier against the consulting mechanical/electrical engineer on a hospital project in Williamsport, PA.
• Prosecuted claims for an architect's extra design work related to the Pennsylvania State Capitol building project.
• Represented a steel fabricator supplying structural members to the Columbus Convention Center in a dispute involving delay claims, change orders and extra work.
• Pursued a claim for payment and defended against counterclaims for faulty work on behalf of a rail and tie manufacturer under certain contracts related to the supply of rail and concrete railroad ties on the St. Clair County Metrolink Extension project in Illinois.
• Defended the Port Authority of Allegheny County in claims arising out of construction of Pittsburgh's light rail transit system.
• Defended an architect in errors, omissions and delay claims litigation brought by the owner and prime contractor on the original Pittsburgh Convention Center.
• Represented Montefiore Hospital, in Pittsburgh, in claims arising from the infill of shell areas and renovation of certain floors.
• Represented Neshaminy Construction, Feisterville, PA, prime contractor for security systems at the Washington County Jail.
• Represented Altoona City Authority with respect to the construction of a wastewater treatment plant.
• Defended a roofing system manufacturer and supplier in federal court action for breach of contract, breach of warranty and negligence claims by a building owner arising out of mold growth and insect infestation.

In the recent past, we had been asked to intervene on behalf of the owner in the midst of a five-year hospital construction project where the original contractor became bankrupt and the successor contractor was embroiled in disputes with the architect. Through hard work, tact and diplomacy, litigation was avoided and the project was successfully completed.

Other types of cases we have handled include chemical failures in paint applied to state highway bridge surfaces; engineering design of sulfur condensers that exploded at a steel mill; defective cement bonding material resulting in corrosion and premature failure of metal tie-backs for exterior hospital walls in rural Western Pennsylvania.