Barry P. Kaltenbach

The client served as general contractor for the construction of a luxury high-rise in downtown Chicago. After kicking its concrete subcontractor off the project for repeated delays and poor workmanship, the subcontractor recorded a lien and filed suit. The client failed to tender its defense to its liability insurer for more than two years. After taking over the case, we resolved the dispute with the client’s surety, obtained a recovery and the case settled on the eve of trial without financial contribution from the client.

The general contractor was hired to construct a warehouse and workshop for a public body in Illinois. After the client completed the project, which had doubled in scope, the public body imposed liquidated damages and rejected the client’s delay claim, causing more than a dozen subcontractors to file suit. Each subcontractor suit was resolved efficiently while a substantial recovery was obtained for the client after extensive documentation of critical path scheduling delays and cost impact.

After the construction of a significant Midwest airport expansion, the owner filed suit against the general contractor asserting aesthetic defects. After analyzing the client’s policies, coverage was found from an unlikely source and the client received a complete defense.

Another client entered into a new contract with a major Canadian railway operator, but wanted its insurance program analyzed to make sure it satisfied complex contractual requirements. The analysis revealed an insurance gap that the client’s insurance program had missed.

A subcontractor performed work on an interstate natural gas pipeline pumping station in downstate Illinois, but payment difficulties led to the owner and general contractor demanding a steep discount on final payment. The unpaid subcontractors grouped together to negotiate a deal for a handy discount, but a unique litigation strategy led to the client receiving a more favorable settlement in excess of the value of its lien.

A complicated series of transactions underpinned a scheme to defraud an investor of his title to several properties in the Chicago suburbs. After taking an assignment of the mortgage lender’s rights to pursue the wrongdoers, one of the co-conspirators filed for bankruptcy protection. The trial team prevailed on the client’s fraud claims, obtaining a judgment that was not dischargeable.

Represented a design/build road and bridge contractor in a case involving the redesign and rebuilding of the interchange of two major interstate highways in Indiana. The design engineer, functioning as a subcontractor, miscalculated the excavation quantities, adding millions of dollars of unforeseen costs to the fixed-price project. A strategy was orchestrated that successfully brought together the engineer and all relevant insurance companies and brokers from five different jurisdictions into one case. The case was settled before trial for approximately 95 percent of the claimed damages.

Represented a general contractor for the construction of an East Coast water purification plant. A few days before the plant was scheduled to be turned over to the owner, a large diameter finished water pipe burst and flooded the plant. The owner suspended payments and began assessing daily liquidated damages. Litigation followed involving the owner, engineer and numerous subcontractors and suppliers. Ancillary litigation was filed in multiple states by or against insurance companies and insurance brokers. In the end, both the cost of defense and the cost of settlement were funded by the brokers, insurers and subcontractors, ultimately costing the client nothing.