From the Ground Up

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If Your Company Uses Subcontracted Labor, the NLRB May Find You to Be a "Joint Employer"

Aug 31, 2015

Construction, From the Ground Up

A new decision by the National Labor Relations Board defining joint employers for the purposes of collective bargaining is a good reminder to employers and contractors to make certain that policies and contracts precisely define who and who is not an...

EPA Adopts Clean Power Plan

Aug 05, 2015

By Jeff C. Miller

Environmental, Regulation, From the Ground Up

Earlier this week, the EPA adopted rules under the Clean Air Act intended to ensure that by 2030, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants will be 32 percent below 2005 levels. The rule establishes emission performance rates for foss...

As a Matter of Fact, Raisins Are Protected By the Fifth Amendment

Jun 26, 2015

By LeAnne M. Bremer

Land Use, From the Ground Up

Earlier this year we wrote about the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case of Horne v. Department of Agriculture (here). In that case, the court of appeals ruled that a Department of Agriculture marketing order that required raisin farmers to divert a...

Housing Crisis in Central Oregon—What a Difference Five Years Makes

Jun 02, 2015

By Kelly S. Hossaini

Real Estate, From the Ground Up

Central Oregon's residential property values rose faster in the mid-2000s' housing bubble and fell harder in the 2008 crash than those in other Oregon areas. Bend, especially, has been a boom-and-bust kind of town since at least the late 1970s. The b...

Neighbor Loses Right to Use Driveway: Part II

May 21, 2015

By LeAnne M. Bremer

Real Estate, From the Ground Up

Last year, we wrote about the Gamboa v. Clark case, in which Division III of the Washington State Court of Appeals set a high bar for proving the existence of prescriptive easements. A prescriptive easement arises when one openly and adversely uses t...

Narrowing the Scope of Subcontractor Indemnity

Apr 14, 2015

Construction, From the Ground Up

Owners, developers, and general contractors, beware: the protection afforded by a subcontractor's responsibility to pay for lawsuits arising from its work (what is known as "indemnity") might not be as broad as originally thought. A recent Oregon Cou...