Biography
Theresa has twenty-five years of combined experience in the design and construction law industries. As an attorney, Theresa advises those who develop, design or construct. Prior to her legal career, Theresa worked as a licensed architect. With the purpose of serving the legal needs of the construction community, Theresa attended law school in the evening while working full-time as an architect.
Theresa’s litigation experience includes jury trial and bench trial defense verdicts. Her experience includes professional errors and omissions claims involving architects and engineers (including surveyor, mechanical, HVAC and structural matters), defective workmanship claims, concealed, differing site condition and extra work claims, delay and impact claims, surety bond disputes, payment claims, mold litigation, public bidding disputes building code violations, default issues, insurance policy interpretation/ enforcement, takeover agreement negotiations, development impact fee and plat approval matters, mechanic’s liens, environmental contamination claims, products liability claims, breach of warranty and UCC claims and other construction, real estate and design related disputes.
Theresa is also well versed in contract drafting and negotiations. Prior to joining Manion Stigger, LLP, Theresa was Associate General Counsel for a global design firm and served as a construction law arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.
Theresa has spoken and published articles on a wide variety of construction law subjects relating to understanding and avoiding legal risks, the law of engineering malpractice, professional conduct of engineers, professional liability insurance, construction law and ethics. Theresa has presented national programs for the American Bar Association and co-authored the Indiana chapter of a Fifty State Compendium of Construction Law Issues as well as the chapters in two different books for the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Construction Industry. The first book deals with Subcontracting and the second with Green Construction.
Representative Experience
Drafted and negotiated hundreds of agreements for various clients on various industry standard forms, including Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC), American Institute of Architects (AIA), ConsesusDocs, Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) forms, as well as custom forms.
Conducted in-house risk analysis and training programs for various clients.
Negotiated favorable settlement of a client-public owner’s claims alleging that the HVAC system design for certain areas of the project was undersized for the project’s anticipated use and needs.
Negotiated favorable settlement of a client-public owner’s claims that the HVAC system selection and design failed to comply with the applicable standard of care because industry literature provided warnings regarding the selected system’s inability to perform and because the system’s predicted performance issues were exacerbated by errors in the design’s execution.
Drafted all legal briefs filed on behalf of a client-public entity defendant in parallel proceedings pending in the federal district court and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that successfully prompted the global settlement of all litigation for 10% of the plaintiff’s last demand.
Resolved complex insurance coverage dispute triggering the appointment of Cumis counsel in response to insurer’s reservation of rights as to its indemnity obligations in the underlying litigation.
Provided design firm client pre-litigation services that avoided the client’s joinder in litigation.
Negotiated fair liability limits, indemnity, intellectual property and risk shifting modifications for design firm client’s service agreement with a corporate entity that manages one of the world’s largest energy and operating reserves markets.
Defended owner in complex litigation related to contractor’s alleged breach of contract, differing site condition, weather delay, scheduling impact and additional work claims seeking additional sums equal to almost 30% of the original multi-million-dollar contract.
Drafted substantive briefs for out-of-state counsel in a federal litigation matter which resulted in favorable client settlement.
Education
INDIANA UNIVERSITY ROBERT H. McKINNEY SCHOOL OF LAW
Juris Doctorate, Dec. 1999
BALL STATE UNIVERSITY
Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design, 1993
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