A decision out of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas[1] showcases the practical challenge in the relationship between workers’ compensation and the pleading standards required to trigger insurance coverage. The underlying facts follow a familiar pattern.
Nautilus Summarized
Blazer Building Texas, LLC (“Blazer”) hired Ranger Fire, Inc. (“Ranger”) to
Broad form indemnities are common in Texas construction contracts, even though indemnifying someone for their own negligence is a tough pill to swallow.
In 2011, Texas passed a law limiting such clauses in construction contracts. Since then, Texas courts have analyzed the statute only a handful of times.
The Rule
In a nutshell, the statute
Many construction contracts contain some version of a “differing site conditions” clause. AIA’s A201 general conditions, as well as in the EJCDC equivalent, contains a changed site condition clause. It also appears in most state DOT specifications and federal government construction contracts. Generally, this provision provides for a change order (subject to procedural compliance) when