Philip L. Bruner, Esq. is an accomplished Dispute Resolver, Arbitrator and Mediator, and is the Founding Director of JAMS’ Global Engineering and Construction Group, which provides dispute resolution services to the U.S. and international engineering and construction industry. Prior to joining JAMS on January 1, 2008, he practiced construction law for 43 years, the last 17 of which were as a senior partner and founding head of the Construction Law Group of the international law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP.
Mr. Bruner is a Fellow and past President of The American College of Construction Lawyers, Honorary Fellow of The Canadian College of Construction Lawyers, Fellow of the College of commercial Arbitrators, Fellow of the National Contract Management Association, and Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is a recipient of the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry’s highest award for “exceptional service to the construction industry, to the public and to the legal profession”, cited by International who’s Who of Business Lawyers as one of the world’s most highly regarded construction lawyers and outstanding arbitrators, recognized by The Construction Lawyer, the Journal of the American Bar Association forum on the Construction Industry as “a giant of our field,” named as a “Super Lawyer” in Minnesota, and listed in The Best Lawyers In America, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in Finance and Commerce, and Who’s Who in the World.
Mr. Bruner is the co-author of Bruner & O’Connor on Construction Law (2002, supplemented annually), the 8-volume, 8,000 page legal treatise regarded as the most authoritative ever written on American law governing construction. Since its publication in 2002, the treatise has been cited in over 170 U.S. judicial opinions reported by U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, U.S. District Courts, state supreme courts and appellate courts, and U.S. and state claims courts as well as in countless administrative decisions, arbitration awards, legal briefs and memoranda. The treatise is included in the collections of the U.S. Library of Congress, all major U.S. law school libraries and many foreign law libraries.
ADR Experience and Qualifications
Mr. Bruner is an expert in construction law, and is a skilled manager of arbitration hearings, mediations, DRBs and other ADR proceedings. Mr. Bruner’s arbitration, mediation and ADR experience spans four decades. In his law practice he served as lead counsel in nearly 100 construction arbitrations and dozens of other litigated cases venued in more than 30 states, and mediated or participated in mediation in countless cases.
- His former clients ranged across the entire gamut of construction industry participants, including public and private owners, contractors, subcontractors, specialty contractors, architects, engineers (civil, mechanical, electrical, geotechnical, structural), sureties, material manufacturers, material suppliers, equipment suppliers, insurers, and construction lenders.
- His former client representations addressed major construction projects, such as power plants, industrial plants, waste-water treatment facilities, airports, high-rise office towers, low-rise structures, hotels, theaters, residential condominiums and apartment buildings, water pipelines, natural gas pipelines, sanitary and storm sewer pipelines, large diameter and micro bore tunnels, hard and soft ground tunnels, dams, levees, locks, piers, harbor facilities, structural steel fabrication plants, oil refineries, storage tanks, computer chip fabrication clean rooms, trident class ballistic missile submarines, corporate headquarters buildings, commercial malls, interstate and other highways, convention centers, shopping centers, stadiums, underground and strip coal mines, railroad trackage and facilities, bridges of all types, wind farms, research and manufacturing facilities, public buildings, court houses and jails, prisons, mechanical systems, electrical systems, structural systems, shoring, reinforced concrete structures, steel structures, curtail-wall systems, single ply and built-up roofing systems, concrete and asphalt paving, and masonry structures.
- He dealt with the full range of legal issues inherent in design and construction law arising in contract, tort, equity and statute, such as bidding, negotiation and award of contracts, project delivery methods of design/bid/build, design-build, alliancing, build/own/operate/transfer and variants, building information modeling, contract formation and award of fixed-price, cost-reimbursement and other types of contracts, U.S. and international standard industry contract forms, contract interpretation, contract risk allocation, contract performance and payment , surety performance and payment bonds, construction insurance, construction lending, implied and express contract warranties, construction scheduling and completion, excusable and compensable delays, time impacts of delay suspension, acceleration and disruption, indemnification, differing site conditions, building codes, architectural and engineering design and performance, contract changes and extras, claims for formal or constructive or cardinal changes, claims for cumulative impact, contract breaches and material breaches, contract termination for default or convenience, defective materials, design professional liability, arbitration, “rapid resolution” dispute resolution, contract damage measures and accounting issues relating to damage computation, equitable adjustments, quantum meruit, economic loss, betterment, contractor-owned equipment, and segregated and unsegregated computation methods for quantification of costs and profits.
Representative ADR Matters
Mr. Bruner has been appointed to arbitrate or mediate many extraordinarily large and complex disputes arising out of major domestic and international projects.
Representative U.S. and International Arbitrations
- Regional Justice Center, Nevada. Arbitrator of owner, contractor, and subcontractor construction claims aggregating $130,000,000 arising out of contract termination, workmanship and delay disputes.
- Condominium Conversion Project, New York City. Sole arbitrator and Tribunal Chair deciding disputes exceeding $125,000,000 arising out of a warehouse condominium conversion project.
- Power Plant, New York State. Arbitrator of nine figure claims between an owner, EPC contractor and turbine manufacturer arising out of a $500,000,000 combined cycle power plant project.
- Power Plant, Pakistan. Arbitrator of international construction disputes under UNCITRAL rules involving high eight figure claims between an owner and an EPC contractor on a $360,000,000 combined cycle power plant project.
- Ethanol Plant, Ohio. Arbitrator of disputes between an owner and EPC contractor arising out of a $75,000,000 contract for the design and construction of a 50 MGPY ethanol plant.
- Commercial Multi-Structure Roofing, New Jersey. Chair of a JAMS Appellate Arbitration Panel deciding appeals taken by both parties under JAMS Appellate Arbitration Rules from an arbitration award issued by a non-JAMs arbitrator addressing liabilities arising out of roof leaks in multiple commercial structures.
- Commercial Building, Bahamas. Arbitrator and Tribunal Chair of multi-million dollar international construction disputes under UNCITRAL rules involving delay and workmanship issues on a commercial building project.
- Luxury Hotel, Barbados. Arbitrator and Tribunal Chair of multi-million dollar international construction disputes arising out of delay in completion of hotel project construction.
- Interstate Highway Dispute Review Board, Minnesota. Chair of DRB established under a $250,000,000 interstate highway construction contract to provide advisory arbitral decisions on claims and disputes arising on the project.
Representative U.S. and International Mediations
- Court House/Hall of Justice, New York City. Mediator selected by 25 parties and with court approval to mediate claims aggregating more than $300,000,000 arising out of the construction and delayed completion of a metropolitan court house and jail facility.
- DisneyWorld, Florida. Mediator of multi-million dollar construction disputes between an owner, contractor, pipe supplier, and insurers over failure of installed aluminized pipe at an amusement park.
- European Headquarters, Switzerland. When a multi-million dollar European headquarters project for a Fortune 100 U.S. corporation came to a standstill because of disputes between a Swiss architect/engineer and a British construction manager, Mr. Bruner was retained by the U.S. owner to analyze and sort out the problems, mediate disputes, counsel with the owner’s executives and consultants, and get the project back on track. The project was completed on schedule.
- Steel Plant Renovation, Colorado. Mediator of multi-million dollar claims between an owner, engineers, general contractor, and eight subcontractors and suppliers arising out of the delayed completion of steel fabrication plant renovations.
- Hudson River Pier and Pilings, New York. Mediator of multi-million dollar claims arising out of a $25 million contract for the construction of a pier and supporting pilings in the Hudson River to accommodate cruise liners in New York City.
- State Water Pipeline, North Dakota. Mediator of multi-million dollar claims for differing site conditions and delay between an owner, contractor, and subcontractors arising out of the construction of a major water pipeline for the State of North Dakota.
- Surety Salvage, Massachusetts. Mediator of multi-million dollar disputes involving rights asserted by two competing sureties to salvage recoveries from indemnitors and others under performance and payment surety bonds issued by each surety to the same defaulting contractor principal.