http://bertramadr.com

I have mediated or arbitrated many commercial and residential construction disputes in my career. Prior to and after becoming a lawyer, I worked for several years in the construction field. Before law school I managed the construction and leasing of a multi-million dollar medical office building and performed various jobs on commercial building and golf course construction projects.

Mediating construction cases is often very, very different than mediating a typical two party case. First, most construction cases involve more than two parties. Sometimes, they involve ten or more parties - general contractors, sub-contractors, insurance companies. There's a premium placed on designing construction mediations. The primary reason for that involves the presence of insurance and insurance coverage issues.

In addition, the personalities of contractors are often very challenging. The contractor personality is often a maverick of sorts, when compared to other walks of life. So a lot of work needs to be done at the front end of mediation. And the parties should expect, realistically, if there are large numbers of them, and high dollars in controversy, they should expect that it's going to take more than one day of mediation to get the job done.

As a mediation lawyer, I've represented contractors and developers in litigation and negotiations with governmental agencies regarding planned or existing general and marine construction projects.

Construction disputes can be highly varied. They can involve defects in workmanship, delay in completion, cost overruns, environmental harm and injury to workers among other things. What unites many of these cases, however, is factual complexity, requirements imposed by government, often complicated insurance and insurance coverage issues as well as a large cast of players.

The many contested factual issues that permeate most construction cases usually require the expertise and testimony of such industry experts as architects, engineers and construction management experts. These figures often appear at and play significant roles at mediation.

During the construction of many projects the parties have contracted to engage "referees," usually knowledgeable construction experts, to appear and resolve disputes at construction sites to keep the work going. In addition to and often prior to the engagement of a mediator, special masters are sometimes appointed by courts or agreed to in order to manage what is often very complex discovery issues.

Effective mediation of construction disputes is often pointless unless and until insurance and coverage issues are addressed and resolved. Resolution of these issues often warrants a mediation in itself before moving to tackle the factual and legal issues that are fueling the controversy.

The mediator, with the cooperation of all necessary parties, must carefully design many construction mediations in a phased manner. The consequence of not doing this when circumstances warrant phased mediation, is that mediation is likely to be initially unsuccessful with continued expensive and stressful litigation continuing. This can have a very harmful financial reputational effect to construction companies, especially small ones.

Again, I have encountered the challenges presented by construction disputes for many years and have successfully assisted parties in resolving them with very few exceptions. I'd be happy to assist you with your next construction industry dispute.

Bertram Dispute Resolution, Inc.
316 Occidental Avenue South, Suite 500
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 624-3388

Qualifications of Gregg Bertram:

Gregg Bertram has resolved thousands of cases in 22 years as one of the Pacific Northwest's most recognized mediators and arbitrators.

From 2000 to 2008 Gregg was a principal at JAMS, the nationwide provider of alternative dispute resolution services, and before that was affiliated with Washington Arbitration and Mediation Services, where he earned the "Master Mediator" designation. Prior to full-time ADR practice, Gregg was a practicing attorney.

Gregg is a board member of the Federal Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, and is an American Arbitration Association mediator and Arbitrator. He is also an accredited neutral of the World Intellectual Property Organization and International Center of Dispute Resolution.

Gregg is past chair of the ADR committee of the Washington State Bar Association. He has been recognized as a "Super Lawyer"® for ten consecutive years in Washington Law & Politics magazine, and has received repeated recognition in Seattle Magazine peer surveys as a "Top Lawyer."