Court Rulings related to the profession of Structural Engineering

[strucguy]

Is anyone aware of a good resource that lists some (if not all) of the prominent court rulings related to construction industry or more specifically Structural Engineering? It would be a good means to educate ourselves about the so called good and bad practices of the profession. Thanks in advance.

 

[JedClampett]

Call a lawyer.

 

[Ron]

strucguy...it is almost impossible to sort those out. Most design/construction defect cases are rather convoluted and rarely make it to trial. Further, the actual breach of accepted practice often gets buried in the legal wranglings and proceedings, so it is difficult to determine what the actual accepted practice was or was intended to be.

I would suggest, since you have an interest, that you research one important term that applies to design professionals and, to a lesser degree, contractors.....the term is "Standard of Care". Understand its meaning and its application to your practice.

 

[MrHershey]

In the past I've found reading through DPIC's Contract Guide has been helpful. Very simple terminology and easy to learn a lot of what goes into contracts and what is expected of engineers, architects, and contractors. Not a whole lot along the lines of case studies, but a lot of good information nonetheless.

DPIC have since changed their name to XL Insurance, and the Contract Guide is available online here: XL Insurance Contract Guide

I imagine what you're looking for is also highly regional. Expectations seem to vary a bit region by region. For your area, would talk to a lawyer as Jed says or chat with your liability insurance representative (or both).

 

[flight7]

I took a course on legal aspects of engineering in college (almost 20 years ago) which used this textbook:

http://www.amazon.com/Aspects-Architecture-Engineering-Construction-Process/dp/0495411213

It's a reasonably readable book but it's probably much more theoretical than you're looking for. It does reference a huge number of court rulings if you're really sure that's what you want.

 

[rowingengineer]

Try

http://www.structural-safety.org/

http://www.nceng.com.au/

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

 

[FACS]

Aren't good and bad practices covered with a PE license...

Charlie

http://www.facsco.com

 

[Ron]

FACS...no.

 

[strucguy]

I was on vacation...so, did have a chance to respond earlier. Thank you all for your valuable input.