GC Required to Pay Sub's Workers Comp Premiums
If you are a general contractor and your subcontractor does its books & records at the kitchen table rather than a legitimate IRS recognized place of business, be prepared to get hammered by L&I when the sub fails to pay its workers compensation insurance premiums.
Pipeline Company Didn't "Waive" Preemption Defense by Executing Franchise Agreement with City of Seattle
Toward the end of this opinion (in which the 9th Circuit forbids the City of Seattle from regulating the Olympic Pipeline), there's an obscure but interesting holding which should be a note of caution to public owners transacting with federally regulated entities such as pipelines: executing a franchise agreement (and thereby agreeing to submit to safety measures & oversight in the agreement) does not constitute a waiver of the federally-regulated entity's right to assert a preemption defense in the event the city seeks to enforce the agreement. The 9th Circuit reasoned that preemption is not a personal defense capable of waiver, but rather a power of the federal government.
This preemption twist needs to be kept in mind in planning major projects where federally-regulated entities are involved, as they can apparently seek to avoid certain contractually assumed liabilities or obligations under a preemption defense.
Challenge to CWA Dredging Regulation Allowed to Proceed
There's no telling how this suit will ultimately turn out, but at least this broad-based industry challenge to some new Clean Water Act regulations jointly developed by EPA and the Corps will be heard on its merits, according to this opinion handed down February 3d by the D.C. Circuit.
It seems EPA and the Corps had decided that the act of using "mechanized earth-moving equipment in waters" itself constituted a "discharge" so as to trigger permit requirements for the activity under the CWA. The lower court said the suit wasn't ripe and dismissed on that ground. This court reversed and remanded for a hearing on the merits.
Because of the large volume of harbor and navigable water dredging and construction work in Washington, this case has obvious significance to costs and time impacts on many regional projects. And builders will tell you that permitting is probably the biggest single risk in many such projects -- especially mid-project permit changes and failure to grant permits on a timely basis. The Pacific Legal Foundation supported the industry appeal as an amicus.