Are you a contractor with a case current in appeals court? The process can be confusing and may even be overwhelming at times. That?s why it?s important to always have the best appellate attorney on your side to help you win your court case. Although it may feel like an expensive cost to make sure you work with a construction law firm that has your best interests in mind, it?s better than dealing with the costs if you were to lose your court case all together.
Find out more about the appeals process and when to make an appeal for your case in court. That way, you?re as prepared as possible for when you may need to defend yourself or find an appellate attorney to defend you or your construction company.
How Many Construction Cases Go to Court
As a member of the construction industry, you may be curious about how many construction cases actually go to court. Whether or not you?re dealing with your own court case currently, it?s always good to stay on top of what could happen in the future, especially if you own your own construction company.
There were 551 construction industry cases during the 2015 that had claims of $500,000 or more, according to the American Arbitration Association. Out of these, there were mediated construction cases and arbitration cases. For mediated construction, the largest was for $2.6 billion. A little bit less, the arbitration was $96 million. For all of those claims during the year 2015, the value was close to $5.5 billion.
When there is a court case in the construction industry, many prefer to do alternative dispute resolution to handle the issue. This helps with conflict-management processes. With this process, the issue can generally be resolved in under a year. On average, it took around eight months to file and finalize the award for these cases.
For arbitration versus litigation cases, many prefer arbitration because it is a quicker process to resolve the case generally speaking. If you have to use a jury or a bench trial, the court case can end up lasting more than two years. That will definitely end up costing the construction company more than necessary.
Why Your Construction Company May Go to Court
Hopefully, as a construction worker or an owner of a construction company you never need to find an appellate attorney to help you with a case. On the off chance that you do need to, it could be related to a variety of issues. One way to help prevent any issue from occurring is by making sure you have the best builders risk coverage. This acts as a form of insurance to help you get through your jobs and one year afterward. Generally, if you?re working on a new building or an existing building that is under construction, builders risk coverage covers you for a year when doing additions, alterations, or repairs.
Unfortunately, there are still issues that can arise causing you to end up needing an appellate attorney to cover you or your construction company. These issues vary from needing to be covered for needing more time to complete a construction project or needing coverage for something going wrong in the building shortly after building it. Many things can get in the way of finishing a project on time like the weather or the client changing their mind about a certain aspect of the project. You don?t want to be penalized for things out of your control this these issues. Builders risk coverage can also help provide you with insurance if a building you have worked on has an issue shortly after completion. That?s why it?s important to find the best insurance and make sure you and your company are always covered.
Have you ever gone to court for an issue concerning you or your construction company? Did you find an appellate attorney who helped you through the court case? Let us know in the comments about your experience dealing with construction industry court issues.
