FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE: Plaintiff and Defendant ™David Erik Chase, AIA, NCARB, LEED GA, is an
Architect with over 50 years of experience, personally responsible for more than $1 billion of constructed projects, as designer, interior designer, specifier, project manager, Architect-of-record, or Principal-in-charge.
Litigation Support - Based on this foundation of technical and practical experience, Mr. Chase has served as an expert witness, testifying in depositions and at trial on over 75 cases, for forensic construction assignments for plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of matters. His cases have included insurance issues, standard of care, schedule delay, construction defects, contract disputes, copyright, water intrusion, mold, errors and omissions together with a specialty in Florida 718 Statutes for condominiums.
Currently practicing Architecture in Florida, Mr. Chase is licensed in 21 states. He has extensive experience in educational, stadium, criminal justice, housing (senior, assisted living, public, multi-family and single detached), health care, commercial, hospitality and retail projects. Mr. Chase has negotiated, authored and administrated design-bid-build, design-build, construction manager-at-risk, fast-track, fixed price, bridging, sole source and private/government contracts.
Mr. Chase serves as an
Expert Witness to highlight issues of fact, to bring clarity to due diligence on both sides of the table, and to advance resolution. As a
Mediator and neutral third party, he has expertly guided parties in dispute through an informal, non-adversarial process toward a mutually agreeable resolution without prescribing what that solution should be. Mr. Chase has also served as an
Arbitrator on a dozen cases to guide opposing parties through a formal, rule-based process that establishes a binding resolution and reasoned awards.
Areas of Expertise:
| Architectural Standard of CareArchitectural ContractsBuilding Codes, StandardsConstruction DefectsBuilding Envelope SystemsDesign – Build Delivery | Water Intrusion MattersErrors and Omissions ClaimsStucco and EFIS SystemsBetterment IssuesFlorida 718 Condominium StatutesWrongful Death Events | Fast Track Processes1990 A D A GuidelinesArchitectural Copyright InfringementChange Order AnalysesBreach of ContractGovernment Contracts |
Setting aside for a moment the art and science aspects of Architecture, with the entrepreneurial role and responsibility to its Clients, all Architect's encounter both risks and rewards which are measurable. From my eighty (80) or so design and construction dispute case assignments, as Expert Witness, Mediator and /or Arbitrator, it has been my experience that the chance of an Architect being drawn into such matters is highly probable once there is a Plaintiff Complaint.
According to contemporary thinking, Imhotep was the first Architect to be known by name, in recorded history. He was the designer of the monumental step-pyramid building for the Egyptian pharaoh Djoser including perhaps, the first known use of stone columns to support a building structure. Fast forward approximately 4,680 years. Today Architecture has become so much more than a single building. Present-day Architecture is the art, science, and entrepreneurial business of designing and constructing individual spaces, buildings, neighborhoods, communities, and municipalities to add greater value to societies' future growth and viability.
January 28, 2015, The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach offered a public exhibit to highlight fifteen recent examples of "Contemporary Modern Architecture in Palm Beach". The time period of these works ranged from approximately 1954 through to 2015. Although some residences have as of yet been constructed, this sampling of designs represented the characteristics of the "International Style" of Architecture with typically "white" rectilinear forms, cantilevered construction, interior/exterior openness, steel, glass and concrete wall planes, horizontal linear elements, asymmetrical composition absent of ornamentation and flat roofs, which typify one of the predominant residential Architectural style choices by owners in Palm Beach. Current examples are interspersed throughout Palm Beach.
12/27/2017
· ConstructionInitially developed in 1915 with an "Office Measurement Standard", the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) has continued over time to establish a uniform industry process model to measure spaces within a variety of building designs and tenant amenities. Architects, Interior Designers, Building Owners, Appraisers, Contractors, Brokers and many other professionals benefit from these BOMA consistent benchmarking tools to establish value and communicate a common language in measuring the complex diagnostic of building floor areas.
10/25/2019
"David Erik Chase, AIA, President, Chase A+EP is pleased to announce that the firm has served on 100+ cases as an Architectural Arbitrator, Mediator, and Expert Witness since 2003."
3/8/2017
"AIA Florida recently announced its recipients of the 2016 AIA Florida Citizen Architect Award, and named David E. Chase of West Palm Beach, Florida as one of six Florida architects to be honored."
For 34 years, Steven Plitt has represented policyholders / insureds in litigation and trial as well as representing insurance companies in Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith matters. During his career, he has reviewed thousands of claim files from more than 100 insurance companies. He has regularly consulted with all levels of claim department management from claim adjusters, supervisors, branch claim managers, claim-legal personnel and executive level insurance company management.
