Next-Door Claims in Construction Projects: Key Provisions to Mitigate Risk of Adjacent Property Issues

Mr. Deal represents owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers in litigation and transactional matters relating to construction law issues. He is a seasoned litigator in state and federal courts in New York and New Jersey and has extensive experience handling appeals. Mr. Deal represents construction industry clients on contract disputes, construction defect claims, delay claims, payment and performance bond claims, mechanic’s lien claims, and adjacent property damage claims. He also drafts and negotiates construction agreements and license and access agreements, and counsels his clients on project management, risk management, insurance, and dispute resolution issues at all stages of projects.

Mr. DeVoe has obtained successful trial verdicts and arbitration awards for clients across the country. He represents numerous construction, energy, technology, and manufacturing companies in complex commercial disputes and lawsuits using an aggressive and analytical approach while maintaining timely client communication. Having represented or consulted for wide-ranging corporate clients based on six continents, Mr. DeVoe brings global and practical experience and insight to his practice. Specifically, he understands that geopolitical events and a dynamic global market may frustrate the best intentions of parties to a contract, and therefore, effective legal representation goes beyond merely winning at trial. It also requires knowing when to counsel for a resolution that minimizes the financial, investor perception, and public relations risks inherent in litigation and that preserves clients’ national and international business-to-business relationships. In addition to maintaining a full-time practice, Mr. DeVoe co-chairs the Chicago Bar Association’s Commercial Litigation Committee and serves as an Adjunct Law Professor at DePaul University College of Law. Prior to joining Buchalter, he served as a federal judicial law clerk to the Honorable Ignacio Torteya, III of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas and practiced law at another AmLaw firm in Chicago.

With over three decades of construction, environmental, and real estate litigation experience, Mr. Johnson brings seasoned leadership to complex legal challenges. He has served as lead counsel in over 30 jury trials, bench trials, and high-stakes arbitrations, handling disputes across construction, environmental compliance, land use, landlord-tenant issues, oil and gas, real estate, and toxic torts. Mr. Johnson’s construction law practice encompasses representing owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and design professionals in private and public works disputes. His extensive experience includes resolving claims involving extra work, changed conditions, delays, loss of productivity, defective workmanship, product liability for construction materials, insurance coverage for construction defect claims and property damage claims, including fire damage claims, and California contractor licensing laws. Mr. Johnson has successfully navigated construction disputes in state and federal courts across multiple states and before the federal Civilian Board of Contract Appeals and California’s Public Works Contract Arbitration program. In the environmental realm, his work includes addressing petroleum products and hazardous substance contamination of soil and groundwater, toxic tort claims arising from exposure to substances including asbestos and benzene, performing due diligence on environmental conditions in corporate and real estate transactions, and insurance coverage for environmental contamination.