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Disputes with and between general contractors and subcontractors involve numerous complex legal issues; I have litigated a number of such disputes.

Construction contractors who work on residential and commercial property and buildings may have rights enforceable by mechanics liens in the courts of Maryland (the Circuit Court of Maryland) and Washington, D.C. (the Superior Court of the District of Columbia). Also, construction projects involving public buildings or governmental agencies typically have protection with bonding companies; there are short deadlines involved in perfecting a claim against a bond, and the failure to quickly line up one's case against a bond company, means the only defendant left may be a general contractor or a subcontractor. This is frequently an unfortunate development because any particular general contractor or construction subcontractor may be here today, gone tomorrow. There are ways to keep pursuit of a case active even where the defendant construction contracting firm has "gone out of business," but at a minimum the tactics required in that situation essentially mean that there is a second legal case following the first case, and each lawsuit carries with it expenses, time and effort.

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Thomas Rand is a lawyer who has considerable experience in civil litigation in courts in Maryland and D.C., including contract disputes over real estate developments and commercial projects, other types of real property cases, and homeowners' association disputes. Thomas Rand was an attorney in one of the largest dollar cases in Montgomery County, Maryland in the 1980's, involving a contract dispute surrounding a 400+ acre farm in upper Montgomery County, with a contract over 35 pages long, involving a host of re-zoning contingencies and many other complexities. At 26 years old, with only three years' experience practicing law, Mr. Rand argued a summary judgment motion in this multi-million dollar case against a top-notch lawyer with twenty years' experience, who was a former president of both the Montgomery County and Maryland Bar Associations. If you think you might soon become embroiled in a serious civil litigation matter, you should seek legal advice immediately. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" does not apply only to medicine.

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