On May 11, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a decision in BMD Contractors, Inc. v. Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (No. 11-1345), affirming a lower court summary judgment in favor of a surety on a payment bond.
Commercial, and sometimes residential, construction requires a contractor to obtain a surety bond to guarantee performance leading to the successful conclusion of a project. Upon that occasion, a general contractor will obtain a surety bond from an authorized underwriter.
The New Jersey Appellate Division recently ruled in Vollers Excavating and Construction, Inc. v. Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, Docket No.
GII Industries, Inc. v. New York Dep’t of Transp. 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 3663 (Bankr. E.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2011)
The Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York considered the appropriate method for calculating a contractor’s inefficiency damages and whether the contractor was entitled to prejudgment interest in connection with a highway reconstruction project. The Court held that the total cost method was the appropriate manner by which to calculate damages and that the contractor was entitled to prejudgment interest running from the date final payment was due.
In general, a company has two bankruptcy alternatives: liquidation under Chapter 7 and reorganization under Chapter 11.
Under Chapter 7, upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition, a trustee is appointed to gather and sell all of the debtor’s assets as quickly as possible. Once the trustee liquidates all of the assets, it must pay creditors in accordance with the priority scheme mandated by the Bankruptcy Code:
In a depressed economy wrought with defaulting developers, a lender in California facing a lien priority challenge should evaluate whether it would be worthwhile to secure a first priority position for its deed of trust through law and motion practice.
In today’s economy, we continue to see bankruptcies occurring in the construction sector. An owner, contractor, or subcontractor in financial distress can easily delay a project — or worse, jeopardize the project in its entirety. Contractors need to understand their rights in order to minimize their exposure in bankruptcy-related situations.
Protecting Contractors — Frequently Asked Questions
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High profile insolvencies in the construction industry highlight the risks faced by contractors, and also the way in which debtor companies can seek to obtain advantage through ‘forum shopping’ once insolvency occurs, by seeking to invoke the jurisdiction of debtor-friendly countries like the United States.