PRACTICES
OVERVIEW
Bill has over 30 years of experience with a practice that focuses on surety and fidelity law, construction claims litigation, contract drafting, project administration, and insurance and commercial litigation. As co-chair of the firm’s Construction and Surety group, Bill leads a talented group of lawyers that represents owners, general contractors, subcontractors, building component manufacturers, lenders, borrowers, architectural and engineering firms and insurance and surety companies in a wide array of construction-related matters.
Bill has counseled numerous surety clients throughout the country in regard to all aspects of suretyship, including drafting and enforcing indemnity agreements, managing defaults and takeover situations, defending payment and performance bond claims, and enforcing subrogation rights. His broad construction experience includes litigating complicated claims for delay and disruption, inefficiency, defective design, extra work and loss of business in federal and state court and in arbitration on behalf of project owners, contractors, subcontractors, sureties and design professionals. Bill has also regularly drafted construction agreements and advised clients on construction contract management and administration issues. He has also worked extensively with insurance company clients regarding coverage, bad faith and defense issues, including construction defect and subcontractor default claims.
Recognition and Involvement
Recognition & Involvement
Bill helped found and served for five years as President of the Philadelphia Surety Claims Association, and continues to serve as a member of the Association’s Board of Directors. He has written select chapters of Pennsylvania Construction Law published by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute.
Since 2016, Bill has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for his work in the areas of Construction Law and Litigation–Construction. For the year 2021, he was named by Best Lawyers® as “Lawyer of the Year” in Construction Law in Philadelphia. Bill is also AV® Preeminent™ rated by the Martindale-Hubbell peer review rating system.
Bill serves as an active member in the Georgetown University Alumni Admissions Program and volunteers as an alumni interviewer for Georgetown University.
Credentials
Bar and Court Admissions
Pennsylvania
Florida
Maryland
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
Education
Georgetown University Law Center, JD, cum laude, 1982
Georgetown University, AB, 1979
News & Insights
Memberships
American Bar Association
National Bond Claims Association
Philadelphia Surety Claims Association
Surety and Fidelity Claims Institute
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- As lead trial counsel, won a $39 million indemnity judgment on behalf of a surety in federal court in Connecticut arising out of a default termination on a multi-million dollar stadium construction project, and defeated counterclaims for bad faith, breach of contract, tortious interference, and unfair trade practices
- Represented a general contractor and its payment bond surety in the defense of a multi-million dollar Miller Act claim brought by a subcontractor on a federal dam project on the Colorado River, and thereafter successfully prosecuted a claim on behalf of the GC and the subcontractor in the United States Court of Federal Claims against the Department of the Interior for extra work, unpaid contract balances and inefficiencies
- Defended a surety against a multi-million dollar performance bond claim asserted by a GC on a Department of Defense project in Alaska, with the matter being resolved with no payment by the surety and complete reimbursement of all of the surety’s costs and expenses, including attorney’s fees
- Represented a surety in the defense of two million dollar performance and payment bond claims asserted against the surety and its subcontractor principal in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in regard to the construction of a large, multi-use apartment complex in Philadelphia. The matter was successfully settled with no payment by the surety.
- Represented a major developer and operator of senior assisted living facilities in construction contract drafting and negotiation for projects in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia
- Defended two American surety companies against multi-million dollar performance and payment bond claims regarding the construction of three off-shore oil production and storage platforms in Brazil, involving litigation in federal and state courts in New York and in courts in Brazil
- Won a significant trial verdict in federal court in New York in defending a surety on performance bond and fraud claims and prosecuting the affirmative delay and disruption claims of the surety’s electrical subcontractor principal regarding the construction of a major hotel project in Times Square, New York City
- Successfully resolved multiple claims asserted against a commercial surety arising out of public official bonds issued on behalf of a defunct tax collection agency in Pennsylvania
- Successfully defended the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation against contractor's claims arising from a substantial overhaul of the I-76 Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia, following a week long “mini trial” before a private mediator
- Won a $13 million arbitration award in prosecuting on behalf of the owner of a hotel/casino in Atlantic City its delay and loss of business claims against the contractor following the delayed opening of a major expansion project
- Prevailed on summary judgment in an action against an indemnitor’s secured lender as to the surety’s equitable subrogation rights to contract funds after paying a payment bond claim
- Represented a European surety, in regard to bonds written in Germany, on indemnity claims against a bankrupt American corporation and an insolvent American insurer; after litigation in Texas and New York, obtained over $13 million for the client, after the client had previously decided that the prospects for recovery were hopeless
- Defended a local municipal utility authority against multi-million dollar delay, disruption and differing site condition claims by the contractor on the expansion of a huge wastewater treatment plant in New Jersey