I’ve previously talked about the standard of care for design professionals on construction projects. As you should be aware, the standard is reasonableness, not perfection. To illustrate the point, consider a standard North Carolina jury instruction on the standard of care for engineers: “Under our law, a professional engineer is required to exercise that degree […]
Architects and engineers are required to meet the appropriate standard of care for their work on a construction project. Such a simple phrase is actually a very loaded statement. What, exactly, is the “standard of care” that the design professional is required to meet? This is one of the “terms of art” that lawyers love and everyone else tends […]
Recently, I was asked by a reader to explain the difference between a document that is ‘sealed’ by an engineer (or architect) and one that is signed ‘under seal’. This question prompted this post, as others may also be wondering about the distinction. [Hi Ed! Thanks for your question] Not all Seals are alike! Professionals […]
Recently, a reader reached out to me to ask about case examples of an engineer losing his insurance coverage because he agreed to a “heightened” or “best” standard of care. The reader stated that he was an insurance adviser who handled various construction professional coverages, and that in his experience it was very unusual to deny or […]
Yesterday, I was part of a panel at the NC Bar Association Construction Law Winter Meeting, discussing insurance issues for design professionals. One topic we touched on was how to avoid invalidating your insurance. As most of you know, Errors & Omissions insurance (“E&O” coverage) is meant to provide coverage for mistakes you may make in […]