AGC OF CALIFORNIA CENTENNIAL - LEGAL ISSUES


Q&A with Don Bradley


How the Legal Landscape has Changed for Contractors in California


By Carol Eaton C


alifornia’s built environment has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past


100 years. Troughout the state new skyscrapers, stadiums, healthcare facil- ities and a host of other structures have redrawn city skylines. A vast network of roads, bridges, transit systems and waterways now facilitate the movement of people and goods. Less visible than these physical


changes but of immense impact to the companies that help build California are the changes that have transformed the legal, regulatory and legislative arenas. New laws, regulations and legal cases continually reshape how contractors do business, from the contracts they sign, to the project risks they assume, to the labor and employment laws they must follow. AGC of California’s centennial


Thank You LAC! The California Constructor


offers special thanks to the AGC Legal Advisory Committee, whose members prepared articles on a host of legal issues that are impacting the construction industry and your business. Additional, timely legal articles will follow in coming months. Among them:  “Coronovirus and Construction Contracts: Who Bears the Risk?” by Richard Shapiro, Farella Braun + Martel


 “Differing Site Conditions – Minimizing Risk and Surprise” by Shoshana E. Rothman, Smith, Currie & Hancock, LLP


10 May/June 2020


with Cox, Castle Nicholson who is a nationally recognized expert in labor relations. Miller has helped lead AGC’s efforts negotiating industry-wide master labor agreements over many years. He brings a historical perspective on the changes in labor law that we’ll explore in Part 2 of this Q&A series in our July/ August 2020 issue.


year offers a unique opportunity to reflect on these changes and the significant role AGC has played representing construction industry interests in various sectors. As part of this month’s focus on legal issues, California Constructor reached out to Don Bradley, partner at Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP, for his insight and perspective. A partner in the firm’s Orange


County office and Chair of Musick Peeler & Garrett’s Business Litigation Practice Group, Bradley is also a longstanding, active AGC member who has practiced construction law for over three decades. He is a past chair of both the Legal Advisory Committee and the Orange County Board of Directors and a longtime member of the Legislative Committee. In the Q&A below, he weighs in on some of the biggest legal cases that have shaped the industry, AGC’s role in it and what he sees on the horizon for construction law. California Constructor also talked with Rocky Miller, longtime partner


Q A


California Constructor. Don, what would you identify as the top eight or 10 legal cases that had the biggest impact on California contrac- tors since AGC opened for business?


Don Bradley.


Tat’s a difficult question, because there are a lot more than 10. Te ones I landed on have been significant in my practice, though. Tere’s the Aas case (Aas v. William Lyon Co.) – dealing with economic damages in construction defect cases. Tat had a huge effect not just on lawsuits but on insurance, liability and indemnity issues. Tere was the Amelco case (Amelco Electric v. City of Tousand Oaks), which elimi- nated the total cost method for presenting claims. In the early ‘90s, there was Valley Crest. (Valley Crest Landscape, Inc., vs City Council of Te City Of Davis), which was pretty earth- shattering to the world of bid protests. Ten there was MW Erectors (MW Erectors, Inc. v. Nieder-


California Constructor


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