Sometimes in spite of everyone’s best effort to reach a mutually agreed upon settlement the ADR process fails and the parties are forced to move onto the next step - formal litigation. Sometimes ADR methods are not offered as an option and the parties are contractually required to pursue litigation to resolve their differences. Either way, while regrettable, there is no reason to despair.
Paramount Associates has both the knowledge and the experience to assist any party though the construction litigation maze. Through our litigation support services we can assist you in a number of different ways. Such as:
Discovery Assistance & Documentation Control
Claims Analysis and Issue Generation
Schedule Analysis
Damage Calculation
Counterclaim – Affirmative & Defense
Expert Reports and Executive Summaries
Deposition Preparation & Support
Expert Testimony
Discovery Assistance & Document Control
One of the first steps in the litigation process is to review all the documentation associated with the project. Often times this means wading through thousands of documents both written materials and electronic, such as contracts, estimates, vendor bids, project correspondence (owner, CM, architect, engineers, GC, subcontractors, sub-tiers), requests for information, submittals, schedules, project meeting minutes, personnel logs and diaries, etc. The list is endless. In addition, there are records and files that are contained on computer, not only on site but also at the home office, such as accounting, certified payroll, corporate financial statements, safety logs and e-mails etc., need to be retrieved and reviewed. This can be a daunting task.
Many parties elect to copy 100% of their opponent’s files rather than take the time to sort through the materials compiled on location. This is a costly method and often an unnecessary one. Our staff can assist the client with early identification of key issues to the case and then focus the document review required to support those issues, saving both time and money. Today, project files can be also be turned into pdf.’s and downloaded into electronic databases to help facilitate ease of document analysis.
Once the necessary documents have been identified and assembled, our staff can assist in organizing your “war room”. We will compile the documents into an easily retrievable system to better utilize them through any one of several methods such as, scanning retrieval, cataloging, issue book preparation or other type of arrangements. The ability to quickly and accurately retrieve important information again saves our clients both time and money.
Claims Analysis & Issue Generation
In order to prove your claim you need to prove entitlement. To prove entitlement you need to demonstrate the three elements of entitlement: Impact, Causation and Damages. First, you must show that an impact event (such as a delay or disruption) occurred on the project which adversely affected your work. Second, you need to tie that impact event to the party responsible for creating it. Third, you need to prove that the impact event created a loss of time, money or both, and that the loss was not self-induced.
At Paramount Associates we are experts in the claims analysis process. We provide our clients with analysis in such areas as:
- Bid/Estimate Analysis
- Buyout Analysis
- Initial Staffing & Manpower Analysis
- Turnover & Transition Analysis
- Material Delivery Analysis
- Complete Schedule Analysis including Time Extension
- Delay & Disruption Analysis
- Constructive Acceleration Analysis
- Out-of-sequence Analysis
- Loss of Labor Productivity Analysis
- Differing Site Condition Analysis
- Defective Plans & Specifications Analysis
- Change Order Analysis
- Project/Financial Cost Analysis
- Extended Overhead Analysis
- Labor & Material Escalation Analysis
- Analysis of Submittal, RFI (and others) Turnaround Time
- Subcontractor Performance Analysis
- Owner/CM/Architect/Engineer Performance Analysis
- And much, much more!
Whether you are attempting to settle a large change order, trying to obtain a “Request for Equitable Adjustment” or entering into formal litigation, our staff can assist you with defining the issues and events that impacted you throughout the course of the project and pinpoint the party responsible.
We can assist in the formation of your claim or assist you during and/or post "discovery” to further refine your approach. If you don’t have the resources to build your claim “in-house”, Paramount Associates can package the claim for you.
Schedule Analysis
Any request for additional compensation on a construction project due to acceleration, delay or disruption will almost assuredly require a “Schedule Analysis" to substantiate the amount of time affected by these impacts. A professional schedule analysis can support an affirmative claim for compensation and also defend against a questionable claim. Once the analysis is complete and “compensable” time determined, the monetary damages (if any) associated with the time impact can then be calculated and submitted for approval.
Paramount Associates assists our clients by providing professional schedule analysis either in the initial scheduling phase, through monthly monitoring, or through post project efforts. Our schedule analysis withstands the toughest scrutiny and provides the client with the best chance of financial recovery.
Our staff will assist in the initial stages of schedule formation by tying the actual estimate to the actual activity descriptions and durations (with or without cost, resource, or manpower loading). We can also review the overall project schedule for “build-ability” and assist in the monitoring of monthly progress. This will provide our clients with a heads-up of potential problem areas and how to avoid them. The review will also assist in schedule recovery as well as providing the documentation should a claim request be required.
Paramount is knowledgeable in the use of today’s most sophisticated CPM scheduling software (such as Primavera’s P3®, E/C® and Suretrack® systems, Microsoft Project®, etc.) and can provide our clients with the following types of schedule analysis:
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- As-planned vs. As-built analysis
- Change order analysis and it's affect on the project
- Changes to the construction sequences
- Schedule Impact Accountability Analysis
- And other methods
Use of such analysis can provide substantiation for inclement weather related impacts and well as excusable and non-excusable project delays.
Let us know how we can best assist your needs!
Damage Calculation
In order to win a case you have to be able to prove three things, namely “Impact”, “Causation” and “Damages”. Through detailed claims analysis & project schedule analysis, we will be able to identify the key issues that have adversely impacted the project resulting in a monetary loss to your firm as well as identify the parties responsible. Lawsuits are all about assigning blame. Lastly we will calculate the financial damage incurred as a result of those impacts. Any good attorney will tell you the courts prefer the monetary loss be tied to a specific impact or event. Paramount Associates is familiar with all the methods utilized today to prove damages and can assist you with that process or do it for you directly.
Counterclaims – Affirmative & Defense
In today’s legal environment if you are associated with a claim then in all likelihood you will have to either defend against, or institute on your behalf, a counterclaim to the original suit. A counterclaim is normally a defendant’s assertion of monetary loss on the project, as a direct result of the Plaintiff’s actions. A counterclaim is instituted for many reasons. Most often it is used, as a measure to potentially limit or offset the amount of monetary award the court may grant the Plaintiff in the suit should he win. Most counterclaims are compiled by an outside expert and detailed in an “Executive Summary or Expert Report”.
Paramount Associates is available to assist our clients in counterclaim development or defense of any counterclaim if necessary.
Expert Reports & Executive Summaries
After our staff has analyzed your claim we will summarize our conclusions and opinions in a formal written document often referred to as an Executive Summary. This expert report ties the three major components of any claim “impact, causation & damages” into an easy to read, easy to understand format that even those not associated with the construction industry can comprehend and appreciate.
Deposition Preparation & Support
As construction projects become more complex and the technology involved becomes more advanced, Paramount is available to assist legal staff in the finer nuances of the construction process. Paramount also assists the legal staff (if required) in formulating topics of inquiry and assist in the development of specific questions under the legal strategy devised by counsel. Our staff is also available to attend the deposition to offer further avenues of inquiry as the deposition unfolds.
Expert Testimony
Paramount Associates staff members have testified in deposition, arbitration hearings and jury trials. In addition we have been declared as exerts and provided testimony in both state and federal courts around the country. As Paramount Associates' staff base their expert opinion not only on the facts but also on real world, hands-on construction experience we can stand up to even the toughest cross-examination!