1. BUILD IT BIGGER – WELCOME NEWEST ASA MEMBER (Information provided by the ASA-HC Membership committee) ASA welcomes Pyramid Masonry & Construction.
2. NEWEST COMMITMENT TO SAFETY (CTS) RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED (Information provided by the ASA-HC Safety committee) Congratulations to the newest ASA-HC Commitment To Safety (CTS) GOLD level recipient Building Specialties. **CTS Program Details
3. AMERICAN JOBS ACT & 2012 TAX CREDITS (Information provided by the ASA-HC Government Advocacy committee) The Returning Heroes Tax Credit provides businesses that hire unemployed veterans with a potential tax credit of $5,600 per veteran and the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit offers businesses up to $9,600 in tax credits per each eligible veteran. These tax credits were included in the American Jobs Act and were signed into law by President Obama in November 2011. **Fact Sheet
4. SCHMOOZE & MINGLE WITH ASA-HC AND BROOKSTONE Wednesday, Feb. 1 - Schmooze & Mingle with host Brookstone Construction Group. **Event Details and Registration
5. WHAT HAS ASA DONE FOR YOU LATELY? ASA and ASA of Minnesota Ask State Supreme Court to Protect Subcontractors from Having to Pay for Others’ Mistakes ASA and ASA of Minnesota asked the Supreme Court of Minnesota to uphold the state’s anti-indemnity law (Minn. Stat. §337.02) and protect construction firms from being forced to pay for damage caused by others on construction projects. On Jan. 13, ASA and ASA-MN filed an amici curiae or “friends of the court” brief, in Engineering & Construction Innovations, Inc., v. L.H. Bolduc Co., Inc., asking the high court to overturn an appeals court’s decision that would allow a general contractor to shift liability to a subcontractor for damage that the general contractor caused to a pipeline. In the underlying case, L.H. Bolduc was a subcontractor on a sewer and water project. During the construction process, the sewer pipeline suffered damage. The general contractor repaired the pipeline and then sought reimbursement from the subcontractor and the subcontractor’s insurance company. Both refused. At trial, a jury sided with the subcontractor saying the subcontractor was not negligent and that the general contractor could not receive damages for losses related to the pipeline. After the verdict, a district court also found that that the subcontractor was not required to indemnify the general contractor from damages the general contractor suffered due to its own negligence and that the insurer similarly did not agree to provide insurance against anything other than claims arising from the subcontractor’s work or negligence. But on appeal, a court issued a split decision holding that the subcontract’s indemnity clause required the subcontractor to “both indemnify for another’s negligence and insure that risk.” For more information, contact ASA at (703) 684-3450, Ext. 1317, or GovernmentRelations@asa-hq.com.
