Unit pricing and other confidential information contained within your bid documents may be recognized as a trade secret under Ohio’s Uniform Trade Secret Act and similar federal laws. What does that mean? In simple terms, it means that even on a public project subject to applicable public records laws, contractors can prevent disclosure of their trade secrets to the world, including their competitors.…

Hahn Loeser’s Construction Team is a proud leader in a major victory for Ohio contractors and their sureties. The Fifth District Court of Appeals of Ohio issued a recent decision confirming that Ohio’s construction statute of repose, R.C. 2305.131, applies to breach of contract claims. It also confirmed that sureties are entitled to rely on the statute of repose as a defense to claims under the bond.…

Steel and other construction material tariffs necessitate careful evaluation and allocation of project cost and schedule risks. For example, when steel costs increased suddenly based solely on presidential executive orders, the building trades and owners saw drastic increases in costs, shop drawing review times and delivery dates. In many instances, contract documents failed to account for such risks. Another factor that can significantly increase the price of material, and even the market price for labor,…

Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, the nation’s most widely used legal services rankings guide, has ranked the highly touted Hahn Loeser Construction Law Team in its 2019 edition. This ranking is a recognition of the quality of the team’s attorneys and the team’s capabilities and effectiveness. Construction clients describe the team as “strong, courteous and respectful.” A client also added “They have a resource expert for nearly every situation we encounter.”…

While electronic funds transfer is considered a convenient and quicker way to process payments and receive funds on construction projects, this practice presents significant risk to project participants. Contractual and processing controls are necessary to prevent fraud, which is on the rise locally and nationally.…