People
Doug Shevelow
Doug Shevelow’s practice includes litigation and transactional law pertaining to heavy/highway and other construction issues for owners and contractors. Issues include differing site conditions, implied warranty of plans and specifications, underground utility protection, and bid disputes. He has prepared and negotiated numerous general contractor, construction manager-at-risk and design-build construction contracts for contractors and public and private owners, including a $500 million manufacturing plant, a $320 million hospital project and an $80 million wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation. He also serves as a mediator in construction matters, and has conducted numerous bench and jury trials arising out of construction defects, design defects, and contractor claims for additional payment. Doug has successfully represented construction project owners, contractors and design professionals regarding claims for faulty design, project delays, utility interferences and construction defects.
Doug also has significant experience representing clients against citations issued by OSHA and asserting defenses such as employee misconduct, inapplicability of the cited standard, greater hazard, and non-exposure to the hazard.
Doug is a registered professional engineer in the State of Ohio, having practiced engineering for over twelve years before becoming an attorney. This background helps him quickly understand the sorts of technical issues that often arise while practicing construction law.
Experience
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First greenfield project in the United States
Represented an international paper products manufacturer in connection with the establishment of the first greenfield project in the United States. This Project involved the creation of a public-private partnership to finance the necessary infrastructure, including a 12-mile gas line. The Bricker team included construction, environmental, public finance and real estate attorneys.
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Water/wastewater treatment equipment issues
Represented multiple utilities against different manufacturers of large-scale treatment equipment such as coarse screening equipment, membrane bioreactors, tertiary filters, and nano filtration arrays that did not meet performance expectations.
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Defective sanitary sewer construction
Represented five different counties against sewer contractors and their sureties because of defective and incomplete work, leading to settlements between $1 million and $5 million.
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Surface water treatment plant delay
Represented a public owner in a lawsuit against a contractor when a $14 million surface water treatment plant was delivered over a year late and the contractor made claims for additional payment.
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Delay claims on highway service plaza construction
Represented a heavy/highway contractor against a highway authority in connection with delay claims on the construction of a service plaza.
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Regional lift station construction
Represented a developer in trial against a municipality regarding adequacy of design and construction of a regional wastewater lift station.
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Utility Damage
Representing one of the largest U.S. engineering firms against claims arising out of damages to fiber optic cable during construction of highway interchange.
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Wrongful death
Represented a self-insured general contractor in a workers' compensation subrogation against a subcontractor responsible for an accident that caused death of an employee on a bridge construction project.
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Upland reservoir construction
Represented a city against a contractor’s claims of differing site conditions and defective plans on an upland reservoir that covered 100 acres.
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$1.3 billion health system construction projects
Advise and assist Indiana's largest private, not-for-profit health system with three projects that are among the largest construction projects the system has ever undertaken, with total costs expected to exceed $1.3 billion over several years. The first project involves construction of a new campus location in the downtown area. The second project involves a new facility on a university campus. The third project involves renovating 150,000 square feet of the vacated children’s hospital to create a maternity hospital. Bricker’s role is to provide the legal services specific to the construction of health care facilities, while Indiana co-counsel is expected to provide more general construction advice.
Presentations & Published Works
- Presenter, "Using Term Agreements to Simplify & Streamline Construction Procurement," Ohio Hospital Association Annual Meeting, June 2021
- Speaker, "Road Use Maintenance Agreements (RUMAs)," The Acronyms of Oil and Gas Law, Columbus Bar Association, September 2017
- Speaker, "Risk Management in Health Care Construction," Ohio Hospital Association Annual Meeting, June 2017
- Speaker, “Sole Source Procurement in Treatment Plant Construction,” CCAO/CEAO Annual Winter Conference, December 5, 2016
- Speaker, “Road Use Maintenance Agreements,” Ohio Township Association Township Law Directors’ Group Meeting, December 2, 2016
- Speaker, seminars sponsored by Bricker & Eckler and other organizations, including Ohio Contractors Association, Ohio Sanitary Engineers Association, County Commissioners’ Association of Ohio, Ohio Society of Professional Engineers, Engineers Foundation of Ohio, Construction Standards Institute, United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Professional Land Surveyors of Ohio, and Central Ohio Organization of Public Purchasers.
Bar Admissions & Activities
- Admitted, State of Ohio, 2004
- Admitted, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, 2007
- Admitted, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, 2013
- Member, Columbus Bar Association; American Bar Association
Awards & Recognition
- Listed, Best Lawyers in America (Construction Law), 2014–2023
- Recognized, ChambersUSA, Construction with a Band 3 ranking, 2021-2022; Band 4 ranking, 2015–2020
- Listed, Ohio Super Lawyers (Construction Litigation: Business; Environmental), 2017–2021
- Rising Star, Ohio Super Lawyers, 2012–2014
- Listed, Legal 500
- Recognized, The Ohio Society of Professional Engineers for achieving the highest grade in the state on the 1994 Environmental Engineering Examination for Professional Engineers
Education
- Capital University (J.D., summa cum laude, 2004); Order of the Curia
- The Ohio State University (B.S., Civil Engineering, 1990)
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