Attorneys in our Construction Practice have decades of experience in negotiating contracts and litigating disputes arising from disaster relief projects associated with weather related natural disasters. This experience spans states across the Gulf of Mexico and other coastal areas, including Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, New Jersey, New York, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf, we developed contracts and subcontracts for prominent disaster relief contractors and for owners whose properties were damaged or destroyed. Similarly, after Superstorm Sandy in New York, we developed contracts and subcontracts to assist with recovery projects. We also assisted with infrastructure projects intended to protect coastal regions from future disasters, such as the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal surge barrier near New Orleans.
Additional legal services we provide related to reconstruction after weather related natural disasters include, litigating, mediating and arbitrating disputes. We also counsel clients on prefatory measures necessary for the preservation of lien rights for remediation work.
When needed, our team of construction legal professionals collaborate seamlessly with Baker Donelson's Disaster Recovery and Government Services Group which includes a former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) general counsel; a former FEMA associate chief counsel and chief counsel to the FirstNet Authority; a former FEMA lead arbitration and litigation attorney; a former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) attorney; a former local mayor; certified project managers through the Project Management Institute; certified public accountants*; and certified fraud examiners.
Our Construction Group has provided construction related legal services as a result of damages from the following weather events:
- Hurricane Katrina (2005: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi)
- Hurricane Rita (2005: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas)
- Superstorm Sandy (2012: Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York)
- Hurricane Irma (2017: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the U.S. Virgin Islands)
- Hurricane Maria (2017: Florida, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands)
- Hurricane Harvey (2017: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas)
- Hurricane Zeta (2020: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi)
- Hurricane Laura (2020: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas)
- Hurricane Ida (2021: Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee)
- Hurricane Francine (2024: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee)
*Baker Donelson is not a CPA firm.