Last year, William Underwood and I gave a presentation at Jones Walker's 2023 Construction Seminar in Houston called “Delays, Dollars, and Disasters! How to Prevent and Deal with Them,” which covered schedule-related clauses in construction contracts as well as the current status of the law on how to interpret them. We covered the outcome of James Constr. Grp., LLC v. Westlake Chem. Corp. and offered the following key takeaways:

1. Substantial compliance with notice provisions is sufficient.
2. BUT BEWARE, it's not that simple.
3. Oral/actual notice does not satisfy a written notice requirement.
4. When providing notice – quote the specific contract provision relied and the intended resulting outcome.
5. Memorialize in-person meetings with follow-up communication.
6. When in doubt, put it in writing.

You can listen to our full presentation on how to prevent and deal with schedule delays in construction projects here. We are looking forward to hosting our 2024 Construction Seminar with the latest topics on construction law.