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Client Advisory

Buck Beltzer

As a professional engineer turned construction lawyer, Buck Beltzer develops strategies to turn around troubled projects, and he steps in to help resolve any disputes which are unavoidable. Buck has won cases tried to juries, arbitration panels, and judges. These disputes have involved contract scope, schedule/delay, impacts, standard of care, and construction defects on commercial, infrastructure, and energy projects, both private and public. He has represented parties to design-bid-build, CM/GC, target price, design-build, ESCO, incentive, and P3 delivery method agreements. He’s resolved complex, multi-party, and multi-tier disputes where significant damages were at risk.

 

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Buck worked as a civil engineer in Colorado and North Carolina, specializing in transportation infrastructure and major interchange projects. His team designed several high-profile projects, like the University Boulevard interchange portion of Denver’s design-build TREX project and the roadway and ramp improvements for the Piedmont Triad International Airport’s FedEx handling facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is licensed as a professional engineer in Colorado. 

 

Buck holds a Bachelors of Civil Engineering from Auburn University and a Juris Doctorate from University of Denver, where he graduated Order of the Coif, was awarded several American Jurisprudence awards, co-founded the Construction Law Society, and was an Associate Editor of the Law Review.

 

Buck is licensed to practice law in Colorado and Nevada, and has represented clients via pro hac vice admission in Wyoming, Washington, Nevada, Kansas, Montana, California, South Dakota, Minnesota, and South Carolina.

BUCK BELTZER

Founding Partner

(720) 277-2113

buck@bbglaw.com

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Licensure

  • Colorado
  • Nevada

Experience

  • Lead counsel for a top-10 ENR Contractor in a $20M payment and differing site condition claim. This was against a local government for a commercial building. The claim resolved favorably in mediation.
  • Lead counsel for a top-10 ENR Contractor alleging $3M in delay and disruption damages against a design-build architect. The claim resolved favorably in mediation.
  • Defended the lead engineer of a $500M design-build project against payment claims asserted by a sub-consultant on a target price agreement. He prevailed in arbitration, including an award of $1.5M in legal fees for the client.

Education

  • Juris Doctorate at the University of Denver, Order of the Coif
  • Bachelors of Civil Engineering, Auburn University

Practice Areas

  • Heavy Civil

Awards

  • Lawyer of the Year, Colorado Construction Law and Construction Litigation, Best Lawyers, 2020
  • Top Lawyer, Construction, 5280 Magazine, 2019
  • Denver’s Top Lawyers, Construction, 5280, 2018-2019

Publications

  • Task Force Considers Alternative Green Roof Initiative. Colorado Real Estate Journal. November 2018 (co-author)
  • Best Practices in Presenting Delay Claims: Bench Trial/Arbitration/Jury Trial Construction Lawyer, expected publication Summer 2017
  • Time is Not Money – The World of No Damages for Delay Clauses. ABA Forum on Construction Law, Mid-Winter Meeting, January 2013

Publications

  • Adverse Weather and the Construction Process. Construction Briefing, Federal Publications, Inc. September 1998
  • Interpreting and Enforcing Unsigned Construction Contracts. Construction Law Notes. September 1998
  • Claims for Lost Profit. Proving and Pricing Construction Claims, Wiley Law. 1996

Speaking Engagements

  • Expensive Mistakes to Avoid When the Scope of Work Changes, 2020
  • Drafting and Enforcing Target-Price Agreements, 2019
  • Best Practices in Arbitration and Mediation, 2019

Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • DBIA board member
  • Colorado Contractors Association
  • Associated General Contractors of Colorado

Represetative Matters

Lead Attorney: Stephen Wichern
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General contractor

 

Details: Designed structural components for public transportation projects, including vehicular and railway bridges, retaining walls, box culverts, and foundations. Awarded Quality Performance Awards for bridge structure design on “T-REX,” CDOT’s $1.6 billion multi-modal design-build project in Denver. Coordinated efforts of utility, roadway, and retaining wall designers; assisted, directed and managed technicians in preparation of design plans.

Lead Attorney: Henry Bangert
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: Contractor

 

Details: Lead counsel representing contractor in contract review and pursuit of $250 million design-build bridge project.

Lead Attorney: Henry Bangert
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: Design-Build Contractor

 

Details: Lead counsel representing a contractor member of design-build team in pursuing $1.2 billion rail project.

Lead Attorney: Henry Bangert
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: BBG represents a General Contractor in connection with payment dispute claims involving the $500 million expansion to the Owner’s rail production facility located in Pueblo, Colorado, with $85 million at issue.

Lead Attorney: Djenita Svinjar
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

Details: Involved in quantifying, recording mechanic’s lien, helping out where needed.

Lead Attorney: Djenita Svinjar
Practice Area: Airport, Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: Assisted with negotiation of $2 billion airport construction contract, spearheaded OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance) branch of DoL audit of 40 construction jobs for compliance with labor requirements (minority, disabled, percent of contractors, etc.) plus mandatory disclosures required by federal law.

Lead Attorney: Buck Beltzer
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: BBG has prosecuted and/or defended 5 separate disputes for a General Contractor which involve a complicated series of interrelated disputes and lawsuits totaling $480 million at issue and simultaneously proceeding in Colorado federal court, Colorado state court, private arbitration, and other forums. These matters involve disputes with parties which had a significant role in the development and construction of a project which involved the widening and improvement of approximately 12.5 miles of highway in Denver, CO.

Lead Attorney: Buck Beltzer
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: BBG represents a General Contractor in ongoing litigation arising out of the design and construction of a project which involved widening and improving approximately 12.5 miles of public highway in the southern Denver metro area with $260 million at issue.

Lead Attorney: Buck Beltzer
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: BBG is Project Counsel for a General Contractor on the largest civil works project in the history of the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area, with $350 million at issue. As Project Counsel, BBG assists with everyday legal issues that arise on projects of this magnitude, including civil rights; employment and labor; and various subcontractor, owner, designer and third-party contractual and performance issues.

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: Going to trial then settled. Landslide destroyed the store. $4.2 million.

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Heavy Civil or industrial
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: We settled in mediation for $200 million.

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Industrial, Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: Construction of a rail service center as part of expansion of palmer rail production site, rep GC, sued for wrongful termination (default), we filed mechanics lien for $75 million and contract claim is $100 million.

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: Owner

 

Details: Represented Owner against CM/GC in $50 million of extra work/delay claims over construction of $280 million tristate telecommunications fiber network.

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Water Infrastructure, Heavy Civil
Client Type: Owner

 

Details: Represented owner against general contractor in $7 million of construction defect claims over construction of $20 million water distribution pipeline.

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: Represented general contractor against owner and subcontractor in $7 million of extra work, delay and defective construction claims over construction of $10 million highway bridge.

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: General Contractor

 

Details: Represented general contractor against owner in $27 million of extra work/delay claims over construction of $193 million buried highway tunnel.

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Heavy Civil
Client Type: Girder Supplier

 

Details: Prevailed in bench trial, recovering $2 million in damages and attorneys’ fees, on behalf of girder supplier in disputed termination of a $7 million subcontract on a Utah highway construction project, which judgment was affirmed on appeal by the Utah Supreme Court in a published opinion (210 P.3d 263).

Lead Attorney: Bret Gunnell
Practice Area: Heavy Civil, Water Infrastructure
Client Type: Marine Contractor

 

Details: Obtained defense verdict on $27 million in claims brought by EPC contractor, and recovered $5 million in extra work, changed conditions and attorneys’ fees claims on behalf of marine contractor, on Mexico power plant project involving construction of a $22 million underwater pipeline.

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BBG Construction Law
Beltzer Bangert and Gunnell LLP
Main: (720) 576-7225

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