TZL 1522 (web)

TRENDLINES Regional project manager salaries January 29, 2024, Issue 1522 WWW.ZWEIGGROUP.COM

$100,000 $105,000 $110,000 $115,000 $120,000 $125,000 $130,000

Making utilization a target in your firm could result in some undesirable behaviors. Goodhart’s Law and utilization

According to Zweig Group’s 2024 Salary Reports of AEC Firms , the average project manager in the Mountain-Pacific region had 17 years of experience and made $125,000. For the same role in the Central region we found the average project manager had 15 years of experience and made $111,000. In the Eastern region it was 14 years and $122,000. Participate in a survey and save 50 percent on the final or pre- publication price of any Zweig Group research publication.

I n 1975, British economist Charles Goodhart wrote: “Any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.” Duh… Luckily for the rest of you, his statement has been recast more accessibly as, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” It is known colloquially as Goodhart’s Law. I ran across the reference on X (formerly Twitter). Examples of the law in action abound. For example: ■ Airlines, setting targets for on time departures (where on time equals good), pushing back from the gate to meet their numbers but idling their passengers for long periods of time on the tarmac. (Full disclosure – I’m not sure if this really happens. I fly too much to make the airlines angry at me.) ■ Call centers using call duration as a proxy to measure how quickly their reps solve problems. Setting call duration targets indirectly encourages those reps to transfer calls or terminate them early. Short calls became more important than solving problems. Of all the key performance indicators that design firms track and use, utilization (or chargeability) is the one most prone to proving Goodhart right – again. Efficient utilization of people’s time is fundamental to our businesses – there is no way around that – and it’s a core determinant of a firm’s profitability. Utilization, whether measured in hours or dollars or both, measures the appropriateness of a firm’s structure and the successful execution of its work processes. When a firm meets its utilization goals that should mean it is calibrated correctly – it has the right number of the right people doing the right things – and that work is flowing through the system to those right people. When individuals are meeting their utilization goals, generally expressed in hours, it should mean that work is flowing to them correctly and they are executing tasks with the expected level of efficiency. When utilization – the measurement of structure and process

Tom Godin

FIRM INDEX AECOM......................................................................... 6

Garver .............................................................................4

Sigma Consulting Group, Inc. ...................... 8

Tutor Perini Corporation ...................................2

MORE ARTICLES n LAURA NICK: A people-first culture Page 3 n MARK ZWEIG: Stop demotivating your people Page 5 n GREG SEPEDA: Burn away business clutter Page 7 n LAUREN MARTIN: Mitigate risks by reporting Page 9

See TOM GODIN, page 2

THE VOICE OF REASON FOR THE AEC INDUSTRY

BUSINESS NEWS ROY ANDERSON CORP AWARDED $80.7 MILLION NEW RESIDENCE HALL AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY Tutor Perini Corporation, a leading civil, building and specialty construction company, announced its subsidiary, Roy Anderson Corp, has been awarded a project valued at approximately $80.7 million for the New Residence Hall at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. The project scope of work entails construction of a 155,000 square-foot, five-story residence hall on the Mississippi State University campus, which will include 400 beds, a dining hall, day spaces, offices and a storm shelter.

Work is expected to begin in February 2024 with substantial completion anticipated in the spring of 2025. The contract value will be included in the Company’s backlog beginning in the fourth quarter of 2023. Tutor Perini Corporation is a leading civil, building and specialty construction company offering diversified general contracting and design-build services to private clients and public agencies throughout the world. We have provided construction services since 1894 and have established a strong reputation within our markets by executing large, complex projects on time and within budget while adhering to strict quality control measures.

Interested in learning more

about the projects and ideas driving the AEC industry forward? Learn more with Civil+Structural Engineer Media.

TOM GODIN , from page 1

– becomes the target, it can produce behavior that stands in the way of leaders understanding what is going on in their firms. ■ Timesheet hijinks. Light week? I’ll just pile some hours into this project that I know has some fee to work with. ■ Slow rolling work. Light week? I’ll just make something that should take two hours take four hours. ■ Holding on to work. Light week? One of my coworkers is the right person for this, but my hours are down so I’ll do it myself. I don’t think the answer is to stop measuring utilization on a firm or individual basis. The metric is too important not too. But I do think the answer is two-fold: 1. On an individual level, be clear about what should be happening, and then provide direction on what to do if that is not what is happening. For example: “When everything is working well here, you should be spending 32 hours of a 40-hour week on client project work. If it looks like you’re going to honestly come up short, tell me and we’ll try to direct something your way. If we can’t, we’ll figure out together how to best fill your extra time.” 2. On an organization level, take responsibility as a manager and leader for the measurement and do the work to address structural and/or procedural and process problems in your firm. This year, resolve to measure a lot of things – including utilization – but be judicious about what you choose as targets for your people to hit. For help with this, or with any other business matter that might be vexing you, please give me a call. Our agents are standing by to assist you. Tom Godin is director of strategic planning at Zweig Group. Contact him at tgodin@ zweiggroup.com.

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THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

OPINION

A people-first culture

Four steps for building a strategic plan that supports a people-centric, talent- attracting culture.

A people-first culture within an organization isn’t something that just happens on its own. At Garver, we have found that it needs to be intentionally integrated into a company’s strategic plan. Firms that cultivate a culture that aligns with their business objectives and employee values have an advantage in today’s market. So, how can you build your strategic plan to foster a strong, people-centric culture of connection and engagement?

Laura Nick

There are four key steps: 1. Listen to your people. Historically, our firm utilized a strategic plan, but it tended to be a document geared more toward the C-suite. When we were approaching our second century in business, we flipped the mentality that a strategic plan only applied to those at the executive level. Instead, we started asking our employees what they were looking for in a company-wide growth plan and surveyed them to ask how they would like to contribute to that growth. Supplied with employee input from the survey, we gathered a group of leaders from

different levels of the company to inform the development of the plan. We also dedicated a senior leader as project manager, with the responsibility of guiding the pre-planning, coordinating with the planning committee, and shepherding the process. Though he was heavily involved as a committee member, our CEO recommended that the project manager for the strategic planning process be someone else, so that everyone would feel that their input was equally valued. After listening to our employees and applying the survey results to create the framework

See LAURA NICK , page 4

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

Have transparent communication around progress of the plan. We do that through a live dashboard. At any time, employees can log in, see the metrics, add their activities, track their professional development, and earn “Connectedness” points in different categories. Leaderboards show them how their team stacks up against others in the firm, which encourages healthy competition and further increases engagement. Let progress be seen! Talk about the plan regularly at recruiting and company events, so that it’s a part of the company’s shared vocabulary. We talk about our plan during the recruitment process, the Town Hall Tour, and at our annual company-wide event, Summit. Use the plan to keep employees and offices connected across geographical boundaries and business lines – and include remote employees. We now have a designated Remote Office Support Administrator who assists remote employees with day-to-day tasks and helps them stay connected. Our COO Michael Graves says, “You cannot talk about the plan enough.” And it’s true. Keep it in the conversation. And know that you’ve got to be ready to dedicate internal resources to keep the core message in front of your employees over the duration of the plan. 4. Celebrate your firm’s successes and your employees’ contributions, highlighting the way they connect to the overall strategic plan. We like to celebrate milestones at Garver, and we do that in ways big and small. For example, through incentive and competition. We also create opportunities for engagement across the firm with different activities and events – some social, others more work focused. This builds connection. Give your people the freedom to participate in the plan in a way that reflects their office culture. We do that in several ways. For example, after Zweig Group releases its rankings of Best Firm To Work For winners, each of our offices marks the occasion by holding their own unique Best Firm Friday celebrations on the same day. Summit is our biggest celebration, an annual event where we bring all our employees to a different city each year for two days of company meetings, awards presentations, and Garver-style fun – all centered around the goals of our strategic plan. The most important thing Garver can do going forward is maintain our culture. It’s an integral part of our strategic plan, it’s what sets us apart, and it’s critical to attracting and retaining talent. It’s also an investment, and the payoff is having happy employees and happy clients – and that fuels growth. Laura Nick is chief communications officer for Garver. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

LAURA NICK, from page 3

of a plan, we shared a draft and allowed employees to respond. Varied input throughout the development process created buy-in from both leadership and employees. Now smack dab in the middle of our five-year strategic plan, we continue to strengthen our culture by listening to our employees. One way we do that is through our annual Town Hall Tour. This year, our CEO and COO visited 28 offices across our footprint, meeting with hundreds of our people, hearing their questions and concerns, and getting their feedback. Because we like to celebrate the small stuff and have a lot of fun at Garver, we branded the “Town Hall Tour” with a rock ‘n’ roll theme, which promoted friendly competition among offices, drove engagement, and made for some memorable experiences. How many people who work at companies with more than 1,000 employees can say they get that kind of face time with their CEO and COO? “A people-first culture isn’t something that just happens on its own. At Garver, we have found that it needs to be intentionally integrated into our strategic plan. Firms that cultivate a culture that aligns with their business objectives and employee values have an advantage in today’s market.” 2. Create a plan that everyone can contribute to and be sure the plan is not solely about financial growth. Our business lines have their own strategic plans with financial components, but Garver’s company-wide strategic plan prioritizes non-financial objectives like internal development and external differentiation. That’s not to say financial and non-financial objectives aren’t interrelated. Since business units drive market strategy, alignment between business strategy and company- wide strategy is required. Keep the plan’s goals simple. Make driving employee engagement a priority. Employees, both technical and non-technical, need to feel that they are moving the needle. In the original survey, our employees told us that they wanted to expand their skills and therefore increase their contribution to Garver’s growth. The goals of the strategic plan enabled employees to do that in three clear ways: through quarterly career development check- ins, 40 hours of professional development annually, and involvement in professional organizations. 3. Communicate the plan frequently and in a creative way. Brand your plan so when your employees see it, they know and feel connected to it. We integrate ours across the board, in multiple formats – in our weekly newsletter and daily announcements and during the onboarding process.

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

FROM THE FOUNDER

Stop demotivating your people

I was never a big believer in the idea that you can take someone who is not motivated and turn them into a highly-driven person. I just don’t see it happening. So my strategy has always been to try to find and hire people who are already motivated. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out what you are doing to demotivate people; you just have to stop doing whatever it is now!

So let’s say you can succeed at that. You are able to find those people who don’t need a whip cracked on them to do their jobs and even more. Great! But then the next challenge – and believe me, it’s a big one – is how you can keep from turning those people off? How can you avoid demotivating them, so they don’t (to use a current business-speak cliche), “quietly quit” on the job? That’s the $64,000 question. Here are my thoughts. None of them are profound but I have to keep saying them because these problems are rampant: 1. Establish a personal relationship of trust and mutual respect with each of your people. That means you really have to get to know your people, and not just on a superficial level. Don’t think that having company events like softball games or bowling nights absolves you from

doing this, either. Many people don’t appreciate any company event they are expected to attend on their own time. Your people, believe it or not, may actually resent them and be demotivated as a result. 2. Get your people involved in the business planning efforts for the firm. Again, I’m not suggesting holding hokey team-building events, or implementing a suggestion box program. I mean real participation and a chance to contribute substantively on how the firm will accomplish something. That takes management that is willing to listen and either act or explain why they cannot act. Ignoring the input is not an option unless you want to demotivate your people.

Mark Zweig

See MARK ZWEIG , page 6

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

BUSINESS NEWS AECOMTOSERVEASRECONSTRUCTION DELIVERY PARTNER FOR KYIV BORYSPIL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AECOM, the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Boryspil International Airport to serve as reconstruction delivery partner for the rebuilding of Boryspil International Airport and support the reconstruction of the broader aviation sector of Ukraine. Located in Kyiv, Boryspil is Ukraine’s largest airport and handled nearly 9.5 million passengers prior to the closure of Ukraine’s air space at the start of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We are proud to extend our support to the reconstruction of Ukraine with this partnership to restore the nation’s aviation sector – supporting the flow of critical resources and investment to drive recovery,” said Troy Rudd, AECOM’s chief executive officer. “With our program management and aviation capabilities, we look forward to working with Boryspil International Airport to restore

this strategically important airport and Ukraine’s aviation sector.” Through the announced partnership, AECOM will provide infrastructure advisory support for the reconstruction of Boryspil International Airport, including asset condition and capability assessment, design, engineering, program management, and construction management. Additionally, the Company will assist in developing a program management capacity for the broader reconstruction of the nation’s aviation sector. “The memorandum marks another important milestone for the recovery of Ukraine’s aviation sector and is part of the global plan for restoration and modernization of national airports and the aviation industry, which was developed under the auspices of the Ministry of Community, Territory and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine,” said Oleksiy Dubrevskyy, Director General of Boryspil International Airport.

“We recognize the benefits of AECOM’s programmatic approach and eagerly anticipate collaborating with them to realize our restoration plans.” This latest agreement builds on AECOM’s existing role as infrastructure delivery advisor for the reconstruction of Ukraine. AECOM has extensive experience participating in reconstruction efforts around the globe, ranging from initial response to recovery and reconstruction, to building long-term resilience. AECOM and its legacy companies have participated in post-war reconstruction on behalf of clients in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia, as well as post-natural disaster reconstruction in Nepal, Haiti, Japan, Indonesia, and the Caribbean. Additionally, the Company’s global expert teams have successfully delivered aviation solutions across projects and continents, from finance and feasibility analysis to design, masterplanning, program management and construction management.

6. Don’t implement trendy, buzzword-laden “panacea” management programs. I want to name specific ones here but we all know what they are and I don’t want to alienate any of our readers. The more buzzwords and program-unique terms in the program, whatever it is, the more likely it is your rank and file will make fun of it and be demotivated by it. Just watch movies and TV shows like Office Space or The Office , or read comic strips like Dilbert where management does stuff like this, if you don’t believe me. The reason these things strike a chord with so many is because they show how people actually feel about them. They are demotivated! 7. Don’t ask them to do things you wouldn’t do yourself, or things that you wouldn’t be proud for anyone to find out that you are doing. This is always demotivating. It’s why I was the one who dragged in the trash bins every week at the office after they got picked up. I didn’t want to ask anyone else to do it. 8. Don’t ask them to do things that are, by any standard, just a waste of time. A big one here is a requirement to participate in too many meetings. Long meetings that you don’t want or need to be at will suck the life force out of you and your people. So be careful how many meetings you want your people to attend. To conclude, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out what you are doing that demotivates your people. So just stop acting like there is nothing you can do about it and stop doing whatever that is – now! Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

MARK ZWEIG, from page 5

3. Don’t preach austerity for them but not austerity for you. This always backfires. “We have to save money on coffee in the lunchroom, people. But hey, I’ll be skiing in Aspen next week!” That may seem like an extreme example, but this kind of stuff happens every day and it’s absolutely devastating to morale and motivation. “How you can keep from turning your motivated people off? How can you avoid demotivating them, so they don’t (to use a current business-speak cliche), ‘quietly quit’ on the job?” 4. Don’t expect them to work harder or put in more hours than top management. I feel like a broken record on this one because I keep saying it over and over. And with all the telecommuting people do these days it is harder than ever, but management needs to understand face time is as important for them as it is for everyone else in the company. Ignoring this reality is foolhardy. 5. Bring them into the decisions on adding anyone to the team. That means that they need to meet the people you are considering hiring and get to express their opinion on whether or not any specific job candidate should be hired. If their opinion is not going to be considered, then they (the existing employee(s)) need to be told why. Don’t just avoid this important step unless you want to demotivate your people.

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

OPINION

Burn away business clutter

If you can clear out the unnecessary underbrush, you will benefit from a staff that finally can breathe, see new paths, and move your firm forward.

T here is a forestry term called controlled or prescribed burning. A controlled burn is a fire set on purpose to reduce underbrush buildup, control competing vegetation, and improve accessibility. It can also have the benefit of returning nutrients to the soil from the ashes of the burnt brush. In addition, fire can be rejuvenating in that the additional sunlight and open space in a forest can help young trees and other plants start to grow.

Greg Sepeda

So, does your business need a controlled burn? Over time, most businesses tend to accumulate processes, weekly reports, regular scheduled meetings, and more. And what I have often found is that people cannot remember what some of these are supposed to be accomplishing. Just look for the smirks and the eye-rolling next time that weekly meeting rolls around. We all still laugh at the famously quoted scene in the 1999 movie Office Space when Lumbergh scolds Peter for not using the new cover sheet on his TPS reports. As funny as these brief moments may be, they all take time away from what we need to be doing. Just as scrub underbrush and weeds steal nutrients from healthy timber, these unnecessary items are taking energy away from your staff for productive activities and accomplishing what your business

aims to achieve. However, I am not advocating cutting all existing activities; this would lead to chaos and anarchy as managers all pursued their own objectives. What I am proposing is clearing out the things that are hindering your business from moving forward. Here are three things you can do to restore some health to your business: 1. Step back and remind yourself of the purpose of your business, the objective of your project, or the task at hand. Working backwards, you can begin eliminating each process, report, or meeting that does not help achieve that purpose. Maybe that TPS cover sheet really is necessary, but only if it

See GREG SEPEDA, page 8

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

Give them room and fresh air to bring their ideas forward and grow. In hindsight, isn’t this how most of the processes were created years ago? They will find this refreshing. This is also true for your mid-level managers. In our office, I promoted a term called “structured flexibility.” I would set requirements (every project needed a budget, schedule, and work plan) without forcing a particular format. This provided flexibility for managers to find the best way forward without hindering them with restrictions. “Much like how the open space in a forest can help young trees, as you clear out the unnecessary in your office you will find that the additional freedom starts to grow new ideas.” As with most improvements, the best time to start was yesterday. But it is never too late to begin working on the health of your business. If you can clear out any of the unnecessary underbrush, you will benefit from a staff that finally can breathe, see new paths, and start moving the company forward again. Greg Sepeda, retired, was formerly chief engineer and vice president of operations at Sigma Consulting Group, Inc. (a Waggoner Company). Contact him at gpsepeda@gmail.com.

GREG SEPEDA , from page 7

provides a concise and needed summary for leadership who don’t have time to read the full report. 2. Once you have made this initial purge of the unnecessary, take a harder look at the remaining items and see if there is a more efficient way to accomplish your goal or provide the information. Can a brief memo provide an update and replace the regularly scheduled meeting where managers recite the same financial information? Does software you are already using provide a report similar to that circulated spreadsheet that clutters everyone’s inbox? 3. Finally, you need to have the same conversation with your clients. Looking back, some of my greatest efficiency frustrations come from outside the office. For starters, this often includes too many review submittals. We all know each submittal takes time to assemble, check, and document changes in addition to the future follow-up and client meeting that will be necessary. But before you complain to your client, be ready to understand their needs and be prepared to explain how streamlining the process is beneficial to their schedule and plan. Much like how the open space in a forest can help young trees, as you clear out the unnecessary in your office you will find that the additional freedom starts to grow new ideas. This is especially true of the younger staff who up until now have felt hindered by “this is the way we have always done it” responses.

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

OPINION

Mitigate risks by reporting

There has never been a downside to reporting circumstances to your professional liability insurance carrier, but there can be a huge downside for failing to report them.

F or many years, most professional liability insurance carriers have allowed architects and engineers to report circumstances; in fact, they typically offer pre-claim assistance on matters where they feel it will reduce the chances of a claim being made. Indeed, there has never been a downside to reporting circumstances, but there can be a huge downside for failing to report them.

Lauren Martin

As a practical matter, unless a claim is made and either reserves are posted or payments are made, reporting a circumstance will not affect the AEC firm’s loss ratio. Furthermore, an experienced claim consultant supplied or recommended by the insurer can often provide valuable insight on how the design firm might proceed to resolve the situation or minimize the potential for a claim. REPORTING CIRCUMSTANCES NOW MORE CRITICAL FOR AEC FIRMS. In recent years, developments in the AEC professional liability marketplace have made it more important than ever for design firms to report circumstances on a timely basis. Notably, there are many more carriers offering AEC professional liability coverage. Consequently, more design firms are changing their carrier than in the past. Certainly, some

of these changes have been initiated by design firms as they shop to find the best coverage available at the best pricing. In other situations, changes result from carriers reducing their overall book of business due to poor loss experience or one-off decisions to non-renew an existing client. Any time a design firm changes carriers it is extremely important to review their projects and report any with red flags to their current carrier before the policy expires. In this context, red flags may include accidents on the jobsite that resulted in serious injury or death, projects that are behind schedule or have an excessive

See LAUREN MARTIN, page 10

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

architect in OIA’s shoes should have known.” The Court disagreed with this premise. Additionally, RLI took the position that this matter was a related claim to the matter previously reported to AIG. However, the Court concluded the matter does not share a sufficient factual nexus with the underlying lawsuit to be considered a “related claim.” In its decision, the Court granted RLI’s summary judgment because it agreed with RLI that the architect had made material misrepresentations on the policy application that voided the policy under the rescission doctrine. Accordingly, the ruling was that RLI has no duty to defend or indemnify OIA in the underlying lawsuit and was entitled to summary judgment in its favor. There were four questions in the architect’s insurance application completed for the RLI policy that were cited in the decision. Specifically, they were: 1. Please provide the total number of claims and the total aggregate amount incurred for all claims over the last five (5) years… Answer: None 2. After inquiry, is the Applicant aware of any act, error, omission or circumstance which may possibly result in a claim being made against them but which has not yet been reported to a professional liability carrier? Answer: No 3. Has the Applicant ever reported a potential claim, circumstance to a professional liability carrier? Answer: No 4. After inquiry, is the applicant aware of any act, error or omission or circumstance which may result in a claim being made against them but which has not yet been reported to a professional liability carrier? (If yes, please attach a full statement.) Answer: No For design firms, there is rarely – if ever – a downside to reporting a circumstance to your professional liability insurance carrier. However, as this case indicates, there can be huge downside to not reporting them. This architectural firm is currently in a position where it has been sued, and there is no applicable coverage. Although this decision may be appealed, the position the firm finds itself in is serious – and every attempt to avoid getting caught in a situation like this should be made by all design firms. In their risk management practices, AEC firms should make sure all circumstances are communicated to leadership as quickly as possible for review and timely reporting to the firm’s insurance broker and professional liability insurer. Lauren Martin is a risk manager and claims specialist at Ames & Gough. She can be reached at lmartin@amesgough.com.

LAUREN MARTIN , from page 9

number of change orders or RFIs, or an actual design issue that has arisen – even if you believe it’s been resolved. COURT DECISION UNDERSCORES EXPOSURE FOR AEC FIRMS. This issue came to the forefront recently because of a decision in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida Tampa Division made September 22, 2023, in the case of RLI Insurance Company v. Outsidein Architecture, LLC. In that case the Court determined that RLI was entitled to a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the architect in the underlying lawsuit. The background is that there was a fatal accident on a construction site in Puerto Rico on a project known as Rose Village on June 19, 2019. The employee was killed when the floor beneath his bobcat failed during demolition. The architect’s insurer at the time of the incident was AIG, which subsequently opted to non-renew the policy. The architect then obtained coverage with RLI in March 2020. The firm was sued by the estate of the worker on July 15, 2020. “In their risk management practices, AEC firms should make sure all circumstances are communicated to leadership as quickly as possible for review and timely reporting to the firm’s insurance broker and professional liability insurer.” However, more than a year earlier, on June 21, 2019, the architect received a litigation hold letter in relation to the fatal accident. The letter from the attorney indicated that “I have been engaged as legal counsel by the Garcia family to seek redress in light of the negligence of one or more parties, Bird Group, LLC included, that may be liable for Mr. Garcia’s death on June 10, 2019. To that end we are advising you as a potential custodian of records pertaining to this potential matter.” (Subsequently, there was some dispute as to whether the letter had actually been received.) Regardless, the fatal accident was not reported to AIG before the design firm received the non-renewal letter and had to change carriers. Ultimately, the accident was reported to AIG when the lawsuit was received. The architectural firm also cited the prior litigation hold letter it had received on the same project. However, AIG denied coverage indicating that there was no relationship between the two events. The architect then reported the suit to RLI, which originally agreed to defend it under a Reservation of Rights, but subsequently filed the declaratory judgment action on October 13, 2020. RLI hired an expert witness in this case who was a practicing defense lawyer with 27 years of experience. He opined that OIA knew or could have reasonably expected that Garcia’s death could have given rise to a claim prior to the inception date of the policy or the application. The architect argued that the expert was “unqualified because he is an attorney, not an architect, and therefore cannot opine on what a reasonable

THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522

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