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Construction Litigation on the Alabama Gulf Coast
Payment, defects, delays, and liens, for the people who build and the people who pay for it.
What Construction Litigation Covers
Construction litigation is the resolution of disputes arising from building projects (over payment, workmanship, delay, scope, or damage) between the owners, developers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and design professionals involved in them.
Construction disputes are unlike other commercial disputes in three ways. They usually involve more than two parties, so responsibility is contested rather than binary. They run on statutory deadlines (lien rights and notice requirements expire, and they do not care why you missed them). And the money is frequently already spent by the time anyone is arguing, which changes the leverage on both sides.
On the Gulf Coast there is a fourth: weather. Storm damage generates its own cycle of defect, delay, insurance, and payment disputes, and it does so on compressed timelines.
Disputes We Handle
Payment disputes
Non-payment, slow payment, retainage, and change orders performed but never approved.
Construction defects
Workmanship, materials, design, and the question of who among several parties is actually responsible.
Delay and disruption
Schedule claims, acceleration, and the costs that follow when a project stops being sequential.
Storm damage
Repair scope, defect versus damage, and the insurance and payment disputes that follow a coastal weather event.
Mechanics' and materialmen's liens
Perfecting, enforcing, defending, releasing, and collecting on liens.
Breach of contract
Scope disputes, termination for cause and convenience, and the enforcement of contract remedies.
Contractor licensure
Alabama licensure issues, which can affect not only compliance but the enforceability of the contract itself.
Bond claims
Payment and performance bond claims, see Fidelity, Surety & Construction Bond Claims.
COA, HOA and development disputes ›
Association, developer, and community disputes, see COA / HOA & Development Disputes.
Sound familiar?
Who We Represent
Owners and developers
Commercial, residential, and government-sector projects, including multi-phase developments.
General contractors
On claims against them and claims they are bringing, frequently at the same time.
Subcontractors and trades
Including electricians, roofers, and specialty trades (most often on payment and lien matters).
Prefab and modular builders
Where the contract, the product, and the warranty questions do not fit standard construction forms.
Suppliers and materialmen
Lien rights, payment claims, and credit disputes on supplied materials.
Who Does This Work
Jordan W Gerheim
Best Lawyers in America for Construction Law (2024–present) and an Associate Director of the Alabama Associated General Contractors. Construction litigation has been a core part of his practice throughout his career.
Benjamin N. Kearns
Construction litigation, contract disputes, and the partner and member disputes that frequently accompany them in closely held construction businesses.
Why Gulf Coast Construction Disputes Are Different
Coastal construction carries risks inland projects do not. Wind and flood exposure changes the building requirements, the insurance behind them, and the arguments that follow when something fails. A defect claim and a storm claim look similar from the outside and are treated very differently by a carrier.
The rebuild cycle compresses everything. After a significant weather event, capacity tightens, unfamiliar contractors enter the market, schedules compress, and documentation slips. A disproportionate share of the defect and payment disputes we see two years later were created in those months.
And Alabama's contractor licensure requirements have consequences beyond regulatory ones. They can affect whether a contract is enforceable at all, which is a problem that surfaces at the worst possible moment.
How These Matters Are Billed
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a lien in Alabama?
Alabama lien rights depend on notice requirements and filing deadlines that vary by the role you played on the project and, in some cases, by what you supplied. They are short, they are strict, and they are not extended because the parties were still talking. If payment has stopped, treat the clock as already running and call before you assume you have time.
The general contractor says they have not been paid either. Does that help me?
It depends on what your contract says. Pay-if-paid and pay-when-paid clauses are treated differently, and the distinction determines whether the general contractor's non-payment is your problem or theirs. It is one of the most consequential clauses in a subcontract and one of the least read.
Is this a defect or is it storm damage?
That question decides who pays, and it is contested more often than any other issue in coastal construction. Carriers have an incentive to characterize damage as a defect, since defects are typically excluded. Establishing causation early (before repairs destroy the evidence) is frequently the whole case.
Can we resolve this without litigation?
Frequently, and construction contracts often require you to try. Many include mandatory mediation or arbitration provisions, and the forum is generally decided by the contract rather than by preference. Two of our attorneys serve as certified mediators and arbitrators, which helps in reading how a construction mediation is likely to go.
What should I do right now?
Preserve the contract, change orders, daily reports, photographs, text messages, and the emails nobody wants to reread. Do not sign a lien waiver or a final release to unlock a payment without knowing what it gives up. And do not make an admission in writing about causation before anyone has looked at it.
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The Deadlines Do Not Wait
If payment has stopped or a defect claim has arrived, book a Risk-Free Strategy Session now. Send the contract and we will read it before we speak.