Our Team

Christina Granquist

Contact Information

Direct Dial: 206-529-3014

Recent Articles

Construction Bidding

Competitive Bidding Statute: When it Applies and When it Does Not

The University of Washington (UW), a public university, aimed to secure a real estate developer for a new building on its campus. The proposal involved ...
Construction

Washington’s Court of Appeals Protects Contracting Parties’ Rights to Define the Terms of their Indemnity Agreements

It has long been the law in Washington that contracting parties are free to draft contractual indemnity agreements to allocate risk arising from performance of ...
Change Orders

Washington Court Denies Subcontractor’s Claim Based on Contractual Change and Notice Provisions

The recent unpublished case, Cascade Civil Construction, LLC v. Jackson Dean Construction, Inc., et al.,[1] provides a legal justification for contractors to require a directive ...

Christina joined the firm in 2008. She has experience preparing and responding to discovery requests, legal documents, and correspondence. She is skilled in electronic discovery, including document collection and preparation, as well database management, review, and production. She has experience with case management in state and federal courts as well as in mediation, arbitration, and trials.  Her current focus at the firm is assisting clients with analyzing, strategizing, preparing, and presenting construction claims alongside our attorneys.  She loves drilling down into the details, picking out and lining up the pieces and assisting the client with putting the big picture together.

  • Construction Management Certificate – University of Washington, 2016
  • Paralegal Certificate – University of Washington, 2011
  • B.A. in Pre-Law/Paralegal Studies – Central Washington University, 2008
  • B.A. in Political Science – Central Washington University, 2008
  • Jury Trials:
    • Lead Paralegal and integral part of the team for national general contractor client in complex litigation on the Nexus high-rise condominium project. ACS brought claims against the Owner for foreclosure of its construction lien, breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, and quantum meruit. Contractor’s claims were in excess of $20M, including compensation for 187 unresolved change issues, time extensions and compensation for excusable delays, recovery of additional and expanded general conditions and general requirements, and pass through of discrete subcontractor claims. Owner withheld compensation of contract balance and brought numerous counterclaims seeking recovery of liquidated damages in excess of $4M, as well as other contract and tort-based damages. We successfully dismissed Owner’s tort claims and limited Owner’s recovery through summary judgment motions prior to trial. Notably, we used key contract provisions to obtain a ruling prior to trial that Owner could not assess liquidated damages for periods of insured delay. The case was tried virtually for 7 weeks/28 trial days before a 12-person King County Superior Court jury, which awarded our general contractor client 97% of its claimed damages and rejected 93% of the Owner’s damages. The jury found that the Owner breached the contract and the duty of good faith and fair dealing and that quantum meruit was proven. Post-trial, we obtained judgment on the jury verdict , foreclosed the lien, and obtained an award for our client’s attorneys’ fees, costs and expert expenses resulting in a final judgment against the Owner in excess of $30M. Due to our timely recording a lien in advance of any unit closings and resulting bonding of the lien for all sold units, the judgment was promptly collected from the lien release bond surety and Owner pending the Owner’s appeal of the judgment. ACS will defend the massive jury award through appeal. The following links provide additional information on this tremendous result for our client.
    • Lead Paralegal on multi-week jury trial in King County Superior Court and received a seven-figure win in client’s favor in the final jury verdict, including award of attorneys’ fees and costs.
  • Arbitration:
    • Lead Paralegal and integral team member for General Contractor client in $50 million AAA Arbitration against Project Owner involving hospital expansion in Texas. During construction, an explosion occurred that destroyed a portion of the completed work. Insurance policies were in place that covered the losses and rebuild efforts, yet the Owner refused to pay the Contractor for the work performed and sought to hold the Contractor responsible for the explosion and Project completion costs incurred when the Owner hired a new contractor to finish the Project. After a two-week hearing conducted via Zoom, the Arbitration Panel awarded the Contractor the entirety off its requested contract balance, change orders and attorneys’ fees and rejected all of the Owner’s claims that were in excess of $40M.
    • Lead Paralegal and integral part of team obtaining a multi-million affirmative arbitration award and fees for a general contractor against developer involving owner-caused delays and changes
    • Lead Paralegal and integral part of the team that represented subcontractor in pursuing claims for impacts and project delays in weeklong Arbitration against general contractor resulting in affirmative award in favor of ACS client.
    • Lead Paralegal and integral part of the team that represented heavy civil highway contractor in multi-week Arbitration against North Dakota Department of Transportation resulting in significant settlement post-hearing.
    • Lead Paralegal and integral part of legal team that obtained a multi-million affirmative arbitration award and fees for a general contractor seeking recovery for differing site conditions against residential plat developer.
    • Lead Paralegal and fundamental part of the team that represented general contractor client in pursuing claim for wrongful termination of a construction contract by the owner. ACS received an affirmative arbitration award for its general contractor client and dismissed all counterclaims brought by the owners.
  • Other Claims Work:
    • Assisting General Contractors and Subcontractors with measured mile and other forms of productivity claims.
    • Significant experience assisting clients with analyzing additional costs associated with changes to contract/subcontract work scopes.
    • Substantial experience assisting clients with delay and impact claims and management.
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