Construction Industry Liability for Failure to Adapt to Climate Change

As severe weather events become the norm and the data and science of risk analysis techniques change, design and construction professionals need to consider adapting their building designs to improve public safety. This presentation will discuss recent developments on this topic that involve the courts, building codes, insurers, professional associations, and other industry players. In this presentation, the speaker will explore whether a new standard of care is emerging that governs adapting to climate change. He will discuss implications for engineers, design professionals, and the construction industry as a whole. As the climate changes, industry participants can either ignore the changes or adapt to them. But one thing is certain: If design and construction professionals take the ostrich’s head-in-the-sand approach and fail to adapt to the data, their competitors, courts, and legal antagonists will do it for them.

Josh Leavitt
Much Shelist, P.C. | Palo Alto, CA

Josh Leavitt is chair with the Much Law Construction Group in Chicago, Illinois. He has over 35 years of construction law experience, handling disputes and contracts, and counseling on industry risk. Leavitt advises on construction and design law matters, including delay and disruption claims, successful mediation and arbitration strategies, emerging delivery system choices, infrastructure projects, liability for failure to adapt to climate change, and 3D printing and advanced manufacturing. His clients range from worldwide leaders in the construction space to middle-market companies. Leavitt has extensive experience in building enclosure matters, including disputes over a wide variety of building enclosure systems, technologies, and structures. He is a frequent presenter at IIBEC programs.