John E. Menechino, Jr.
Partner
John's practice concentrates in the areas of construction and surety law and litigation. John represents a broad range of clients in the construction industry including general contractors, sureties, owners, subcontractors, suppliers, fabricators, design professionals and construction managers. John's assistance to his surety clients includes not only vigorously and efficiently defending payment and performance bond claims, but also assisting his surety clients with the aggressive prosecution of all salvage claims available to the surety, including indemnity, assignment and subrogation claims. John has helped his clients resolve disputes involving prisons, hospitals, schools, military bases, dams, major civil works projects and residential subdivisions, and has worked on claim litigation and arbitration involving many federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the Veteran's Administration and numerous other public and private concerns.
Representative Cases/Experience
- Assisted his general contractor and surety clients in successfully defending a temination for default and related payment and performance bond claims, and helped the client to overturn the default termination and obtain over $26,000,000 in settlement of affirmative claims arising out of the contractor's construction of a Federal Bureau of Prisons' high rise detention center in downtown Miami.
- Lead attorney responsible for obtaining a multi million dollar pre-judgment attachment on behalf of his surety client in Federal Court in Georgia. He later executed on that pre-judgment attachment in favor of the client after he obtained a $7.5 million judgment in Federal Court in Florida.
- Lead attorney and briefed and argued Bates & Associates, Inc. v. Romei, 207 Ga. App. 81, 426 S.E.2d 919 ( Ga. App. 1993), an important case which helped define the application of economic loss rule in Georgia.
Professional Memberships and Affiliations
- American Bar Association, Tort and Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee
- American Bar Association, Forum Committee on the Construction Industry
- American Bar Association, Public Contract Law Section
- Atlanta Bar Association, Sections on Construction Law, Litigation and Public Contract Law
- Georgia State Bar, Sections on Trial Law and General Practice
- Lawyers Club of Atlanta
- Kiwanis Club (Atlanta Chapter)
Admissions to Practice
- State Bar of Georgia
- U.S. District Courts, Districts of Northern, Middle and Southern Georgia
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits
Education
- B.A., Political Science and Economics, magna cum laude, University of South Carolina, 1986; Phi Beta Kappa
- J.D., University of South Carolina, 1989; The American Inns of Court Foundation
Publications
- Contributing author, Alternative Clauses to Standard Construction Contracts, John Wiley & Sons, First Edition 1991, including 1992 and 1997 supplements and Second Edition, 1999.
- Contributing author, Construction Subcontracting: A Legal Guide for Industry Professionals, John Wiley & Sons, 1991, including 1992 supplement.
- Regular contributor to various construction and surety law publications.
Speeches
- Lecturer, 2003 American Bar Association, Forum Committee on the Construction Industry and the Torts and Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee, Mid Winter Meeting New York City, Topic - "Getting to the Bottom of Construction Claims" - Default Terminations and Handling Performance Bond Claims.