COVID-19 - Present and Future Legal Impacts on the Construction Industry

• Dealing with known impacts
• Coexisting with COVID-19 in the long term - what is here to stay?
• Secondary impacts/challenges going forward

Runtime: 1 hour, 4 minutes
Recorded: December 15, 2021

For NY - Difficulty Level: For Newly Admitted attorneys (transitional)

The construction industry focus has shifted in large part away from identifying what the impacts will be, to how to deal with those impacts in terms of documenting their occurrence and measuring their impact. The duration of the COVID-19 impacts, in some instances spanning nearly the entire project lifecycle, have added the related challenge of segregating COVID-19 impacts from other impacts that occurred simultaneously.

The nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has developed into more of a lingering condition than a defined event. Additionally, the trajectory of impacts has to date proven to be unpredictable with multiple waves of surging local and regional cases resulting in impacts that are not consistent across time or locations. As a result, industry focus has also shifted toward coexisting with the pandemic through the refinement of revised work procedures that mitigate the risks and impacts of COVID-19 in a manner that can be maintained in the long term as well as strategies to address COVID-19 (and other similar events) in future contracts.

As global economies and industries try to get back to business, a series of secondary impacts have emerged, which may or may not be a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these issues are price escalation, delays and shortages across the supply chain and workforce availability. Ascertaining the extent to which these secondary impacts and risks are a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, if at all, may have major implications for all parties involved.

The majority of COVID-19 specific disputes in the construction industry have ended in amicable settlement, however, many such disputes may still be wrapped up in on-going projects with potential formal proceedings yet to occur. Additionally, as a result of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic most disputes on projects that were on-going at the start of the pandemic (early 2020) include some aspects of COVID-19 impacts. A recent court ruling in Ontario Canada that may provide some useful insight for consideration in the development of COVID-19 related claim resolution strategies going forward. In this seminarthe panel will discuss legal and technical aspects of the above- noted events, share their respective experience and discuss considerations going forward.

This program was recorded on December 14th, 2021.

American Bar Association