Insurance companies cannot recover environmental cleanup costs paid to their insured under the federal CERCLA, commonly known as Superfund, from another Potentially Responsible Party, .. and, having the result of making environmental insurance more valuable.… Continue Reading
If you ever question the value of green building certification, run a search for press releases touting LEED certification for new projects. I see hundreds of these releases every week. But if you are purchasing a LEED building or space, how can you ensure that it truly is LEED certified? Fidelity National Financial (FNF) created the LEED Project … Continue Reading
One of my very first Green Building Law Update posts focused on the insurance and surety industries’ concerns related to green building. Nearly two years later, some in the insurance industry are still expressing concerns regarding green building projects. A recent P&C National Underwriter article highlighted numerous insurance-related concerns related to green buildings: Vegetative roofing—using … Continue Reading
We previously reviewed a green building contract that can be used to manage the architect-owner relationship. But what about contractors? As a member of the AGC ConsensusDOCS committee, I had the pleasure of collaborating on the ConsensusDOCS 310 Green Building Addendum, which was recently released: On Nov. 10, ConsensusDOCS released the construction industry’s first and … Continue Reading
The primary theme of Green Building Law Update is green building litigation will develop. To date, one of the rare examples of green building litigation is Shaw Development v. Southern Builders, a case that involved a project’s failure to achieve LEED certification in a timely matter. Other examples of green building disputes are sparse. But … Continue Reading
In light of our discussions regarding green roof fires and insurance, I thought you might like to see an actual green roof fire: Are you convinced? Related Links: LiveRoof: Green Roof Fire Test (YouTube) Green Roof posts (GBLU)… Continue Reading
Over the past week, we have been discussing AIG’s AIGRMGreen Reputation Coverage. I had speculated that this insurance might cover bad press resulting from allegations of greenwashing. Turns out, AIG’s insurance product covers more than just bad press. Mark Rabkin, my green building insurance guru, located a copy (PDF) of the AIGRMGreen Reputation Coverage. From … Continue Reading
When I read about the AIGRMGreen Reputation Coverage, which covers bad press for green building projects, I immediately thought of allegations of greenwashing. From wikipedia: Greenwash (a portmanteau of green and whitewash) is a term used to describe the practice of companies disingenuously spinning their products and policies as environmentally friendly, such as by presenting … Continue Reading
How did we all miss this? While AIG may have had its problems recently, it certainly has created an innovative green building insurance product: The company says the casualty coverage for property owners and managers of green buildings consists of two coverages, AIGRMGreen Reputation Coverage and AIGRMGreen Indoor Environment Coverage. The reputation coverage provides up … Continue Reading
[Today, I am bringing you a guest post from Mark Rabkin. I have been on Mark for awhile to write a guest post. He is doing a tremendous job looking at the insurance and surety concerns related to green building. Back when I was looking at alternatives for the D.C. Green Building Act bond requirement, … Continue Reading
Love might be too strong of a word but you get the point. The idea of LEED de-certification has touched off a firestorm of comments, some in support and others in objection. I think a follow up post is warranted. First, I want to clarify one important piece of information as I noticed some were … Continue Reading
Disclaimer: If you are sensitive to or frightened by new risks and liabilities in the green building industry, please skip this post. On Monday, I highlighted the USGBC’s decision to create requirements to ensure a building’s performance matches modeled energy savings. I finished the post by asking, what happens to projects that do not comply? … Continue Reading
I like categories. I like to categorize ideas, issues and thoughts in order to develop my understanding. The same is true for green building law; I like to think of this emerging practice in terms of categories. The other day I was asked "what is green building law?" by an environmental attorney. I had never … Continue Reading
Sorry, I won’t be answering this rhetorical question today. Instead, a group of construction, design and surety legal experts will attempt to address this difficult question at an upcoming symposium: What: Trends in Green Building Seminar Who: Tom Mawson – The USGBC and Trends in Green Building; Chris Cheatham – The Emergence of Green Building Litigation; Bryan Phillips … Continue Reading
While GBLU has written extensively about green building bonds, a reader recently pointed out that green building insurance should not be overlooked. When you talk about green building insurance programs, you have to start with Fireman’s Fund. Back in October 2006, Fireman’s Fund had the foresight to launch three products for commercial green buildings, … Continue Reading
