Developers and their partners are avoiding stiff litigation costs by finding ways to resolve disputes out of court in South Florida’s postrecession construction boom.
At the bottom of the market, developers entered shotgun marriages with unfamiliar partners to survive in a struggling economy.
The trick has been to find ways to negotiate immediate solutions for these strange bedfellows before construction-site snafus turn into expensive and lengthy litigation, said Steven B. Lesser, a Becker & Poliakoff shareholder and chair of the firm’s construction law and litigation practice group.
Lesser, a certified circuit court civil mediator, is the new chair of the American Bar Association’s forum on construction law. For the next year, the forum will focus on teaching construction lawyers how to advise clients navigating these emerging issues.