Shop Drawing Review: Minimizing the Risks
Individual designers, professional liability insurers, and professional organizations have tried to define the designers approval responsibilities for shop drawing review in clear, workable...
Great Lakes Water Diversion: Legal Issues
This article deals with state/provincial, regional, federal and international legal issues involved with protecting Great Lakes water. First, the article describes the institutions and...
Legal Constraints on the Transport of Water
Legal constraints on water transport are based on legitimate concerns for protecting the future interests of the area of origin, but such constraints sometimes appear overly restrictive...
Sand Rights A Legal System to Protect The Shores of the Beach
The legal system of water rights in California is highly developed. So far, however, it has failed to recognize in any comprehensive fashion the importance of the sand which is transported...
Use of Private Legal Actions to Protect Beaches
In response to shoreline migration, private oceanfront landowners often erect shoreline erosion control structures such as groins and bulkheads. These structures may exacerbate erosion...
Coping with Litigation
Engineers should learn legal philosophy, even though it seems unrelated to traditional technical practice. Monitoring changes in legal theory that may increase engineers'...
Liability of the Resident Engineer
This paper focuses on specific examples of resident engineer liability situations. It specifically discusses to whom the resident engineer has responsibility, why the law imposes the liability...
Ethics in Contract Administration
Society still struggles with the moral dilemma of whether an act must be illegal to be unethical. Citing codes and examples, this paper focuses on the ethical aspects of Resident Engineers...
Design Standards and Public Liability
For years in California, a defense to a negligence action was contributory negligence. This was replaced in 1975 by comparative negligence, which the paper discusses. It then goes on to...
U.S. Bridges: The Bias Towards Mediocrity
This article contends that in this century the United States has lost its leadership in bridge design and explores reasons why this came to be. Comparative examples of various bridge types...
Liability in Construction Management
The concept of professional construction management has emerged and developed over the past decade in response to pressures for faster and more economical project completions. This has...
Resolving International Construction Disputes by Arbitration
Arbitration as a means of settling construction disputes is increasing. It can be particularly useful in international disputes, where parties often seek to avoid litigation in foreign...
The Engineer as Expert Witness
Increased specialization in technical fields and the increasingly litigious nature of our society have resulted in a great deal of collaboration between lawyers and engineers in litigation...
Basics in Failure Analysis of Large Structures
Failure analysis procedures can usually determine the most probalbe cause of a structural failure. Then it is possible to determine why the initial design, materials selection, and fabrication...
Faults in Swedish and American Tunnel Practice: A Fable
Swedish and American practices in dealing with unanticipated geological conditions encountered during tunnel construction are contrasted. Swedish practice, illustrated with an actual example,...
Flood Control Planning in Albuquerque
In 1973, a 42-mi� area adjacent to Albuquerque, New Mexico, was about one-third developed, and drainage problems were evident. The area is on an alluvial fan at the foot of the Sandia...
Doing Business in Saudi Arabia
The consulting firm or contractor eager to get a piece of the action in Saudi Arabia must be prepared to endure some hardships. Foreigners can't own land but can rent living...
The Field Engineer: Political and Legal Scapegoat�
The publicly-employed engineer can be in a vulnerable legal position. A case history is described in which a field engineer was indicted on criminal charges after a bridge collapse (during...
ASCE Guide to Employment Conditions for Civil Engineers Under Revision
The National Committee on Employment Conditions is reviewing
What To Do When the Suit is Served
The way in which principals of a design professional firm respond to a law suit alleging liability has great bearing on the way in which the suit progresses and on its effect on the firm....
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