Construction Litigation

For decades, Benesch’s Construction Litigation practice has represented contractors, specialty subcontractors, owners, construction-related professionals, sureties and other innovators in virtually all types of construction disputes in state and federal courts, courts of claims and boards of contract appeals. We have proven experience in managing conflicts arising out of design-build and EPC projects.

Our team is highly skilled in arbitration and mediation, appearing in dispute forums globally. Practice leader Tom Crist is an international arbitration and disputes specialist headquartered in the United States and the UAE. He is admitted to practice in all courts in several U.S. states, licensed as a legal consultant in the UAE, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and one of its North American board members, and is credentialed to arbitrate throughout North America, UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore and other jurisdictions.

Why Benesch?

With exceptional experience in the U.S., U.K., EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and Canada, our attorneys have from-the-ground-up design and field construction experience. Composed of top-tier dealmakers, board advisors and strategists, thought leaders, arbitrators, educators, draftspeople and trial counsel, our team issue-spots on site, recognizes or creates key moments to resolve disputes, and helps push game-changing construction and infrastructure projects across the finish line.

Broad and Deep Industry Experience

Immersed in the industry, our lawyers stay ahead of the curve on all types of traditional and emerging projects, from oil and gas, petrochemical, mining, steel plants, urban towers and other vertical construction to clean energy manufacturing facilities, desalinization plants, renewable energy, new AEC technology and collaborative arrangements such as joint ventures, teaming agreements and other strategic alliances. Most of these projects and the bet-the-company disputes they engender are multibillion-dollar and involve multimillion square feet and we have the experience and resources to handle them. Our work also includes broad, substantial representation of U.S. defense contractors and those who build embassies, consulates and military bases around the globe.

Unrivaled Know-How at Every Stage

During a period when truly large domestic construction projects were scarce in the U.S., we were gaining experience internationally in innovative delivery methods for manufacturing and major civil and energy jobs. We never stopped being busy at home but added new skills by working on impressive projects abroad. Because we know how to plan and build large, complex projects, we also know how to resolve matters if they stray into dispute territory. We see the bend in the tracks coming and work seamlessly with project teams and stakeholders who need us.

We have faced challenges for clients throughout the world and regularly apply that know-how to manage construction disputes and resolve contention in the U.S. From bid disputes, subsurface claims, constructive change and extra work claims to delay, complex scheduling, defective design, disruption and interference, workmanship and product failure disputes, we have been involved with every size and type of project—bringing to bear broad experience most other firms cannot match.

Limiting Risk Exposure

Focused on helping clients limit risks using collaborative upfront project planning, we manage risks they cannot fully control, such as industry-wide labor shortages, inflation and supply chain fractures. Our attorneys also have significant experience with domestic and international contract structures such as EPC, design-assist and bridging, sophisticated risk allocation and insurance products used to manage risk effectively and add certainty regarding project completion.

A Distinguished Team

Repeatedly recognized as a leader in the field, our team has many accolades, including first-tier rankings nationally in Litigation – Construction by Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms.” Peer-reviewed journals and highly regarded ranking directories, such as Chambers USA, regularly list lawyers in our practice as leading advocates in construction law, ADR and litigation, and members of our team are individually listed among the Best Lawyers in America® in construction litigation.

Top Successes

• Representing a large U.S. contractor in its international embassy program. This includes daily representation as project counsel on consulates and embassies including U.S. embassies in Europe and Africa, and the largest U.S. consulate in history. The collective project sizes are in the billions. We have managed all requests for equitable adjustments (REAs) and disputes with lower tiers in trial and arbitration domestically and abroad.
• Assisting a public company that has earned the largest global market share of solar tracking devices and technology in managing disputes on the largest solar projects in Canada and the United States while maneuvering supply chain fracture in advance of the company reshoring its manufacturing in the United States.
• Represented a public company in tens of millions of dollars of disputes related to the failed EPC delivery by its contractor of several indoor greenhouses in the United States. Projects include as many as 30 acres of high-tech controlled environmental agriculture (CEA) in Appalachia.
• Represented in arbitration a U.S.-domiciled EPC contractor in the construction of a major Middle East oilfield project, including over $100 million in claims disputed in the London Court of International Arbitration. Claims included global supply chain breaches, up and downstream design-related passthrough claims and third-party litigation in several jurisdictions.
• Representing in arbitration a large general contractor in a dispute with a global steel industry owner on a claim for delays and disruption driven by scope creep and pandemic supply chain failures. Total claims exceed $30 million and involve first-impression claims related to EPC risk and carveouts for force majeure delays.
• Representing in court a global REIT in disputes concerning HVAC failures and defects in a Fortune 10 company’s corporate HQ purchase for nearly $1 billion.
• Representing in arbitration and court a global sports academy concerning defects in the design of a luxury hotel tower built on its property. The dispute involves a failed (and since corrected) mechanical system design, environmental issues inside the building, claims against the designer and putative claims involving design subconsultants and key equipment manufacturers.
• Representing in court a liquidating trust in the sale of a mammoth, partially completed industrial facility located in the Midwest along with negotiated TIF financing for a consortium of project participants.Representing in arbitration a specialty design-builder regarding delay and disruption claims stemming from construction, on an EPC basis, of a riverfront manufacturing facility.
• Representing in courts and arbitration a prime contractor regarding claims for disputed extras, delay and disruption, and prolongation costs related to $50 million in phased refinery improvements and new construction.
• Representing in arbitration a design-builder in the construction of critical portions of an $800 million electric power peaking plant.
• Representing at a dispute resolution board (DRB) and in arbitration of a specialty piping contractor regarding delay, disruption and prolongation claims related to owner, designer and upstream contractor impacts on a project that involved construction of a new technology (IGCC) power facility.
• Representing in court an international REIT regarding construction defect, interference and right-of-way claims related to demolition and new construction near an urban office tower.
• Representing in arbitration a U.S. design-builder regarding completion issues and closeout related to military infrastructure and housing projects in the Caribbean and Pacific.
• Represented in arbitration a prestigious preparatory school regarding a faulty design and defective construction claim resulting from a building envelope failure at its Natatorium and Athletic Facility.
• Representing in arbitration a specialty contractor in delay, disruption and “scope creep” claims adverse to a major U.S. energy producer.
• Represented in court a surety and large specialty contractor concerning claims for payment that followed the cancellation of a 1 million-square-foot manufacturing project at roughly 80% completion.
• Representing in arbitration a piping contractor on added scope and delay/disruption claims related to defective owner design of a domestic electric power facility.
• Representing in court and arbitration a U.S. design-builder in four matters involving delays, disruptions, scope creep and prolongation related to simultaneous construction of four urban towers.
• Representing in court and arbitration a U.S. design-builder regarding bidding irregularities, changes and delays on several Division I university buildings.
• Representing in court an American specialty glass manufacturer regarding the alleged failure of a structural glazing system in an urban tower.