On March 25, 2020, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”)- the largest economic aid package in our nation’s history. On March 27, 2020, the House of Representatives passed the CARES Act and on the same day, President Donald Trump signed it into law. This law, 880 pages long, provides much needed support for businesses across the country. The CARES Act provides significant new funding to small businesses in the United States for the period covering March 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.

Despite advances in design and more stringent regulations, errors persist in the design process. The discovery of a potentially catastrophic design error after the completion and delivery of a project presents an array of ethical and legal issues for the design professional and attorneys who represent them. Ultimately, the questions before the design professional are whether he or she has an ethical or legal duty to warn of the error, and what must be done to satisfy that duty. 

For its buildings to reach new heights, New York City’s skyline has long depended on the acquisition and transfer of additional development rights. However, a recent challenge to the zoning and tax lot assemblage for 200 Amsterdam Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side has led the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) to reconsider a 40-year-old interpretation of the Zoning Resolution related to this process.

Despite advances in design and more stringent regulations, errors persist in the design process. The discovery of a potentially catastrophic design error after the completion and delivery of a project presents an array of ethical and legal issues for the design professional and attorneys who represent them. Ultimately, the questions before the design professional are whether he or she has an ethical or legal duty to warn of the error, and what must be done to satisfy that duty. 

As 2019 drew to a close, Governor Cuomo signed a bill on December 31st that had been passed by the New York State Legislature in June allowing certain New York City agencies to use the design-build project delivery system for construction projects.