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Stephen L. Cali

Principal

  • Telephone: (510) 835-9100
  • Facsimile: (510) 451-2170
  • Email: scali [at] wulfslaw [dot] com

Biography

Stephen L. Cali has been with Wulfsberg Reese Colvig & Firstman since 1990 and is a principal with the Firm. 

Mr. Cali's practice area is primarily in commercial litigation and claims with a focus on construction, construction defect, and related matters. He represents public and private entity clients in a variety of construction projects, including design-bid-build, design-build, and heavy industry engineering procurement construction contracting, construction management, private commercial and residential developments, public works projects, and complex construction matters.

In addition to his construction litigation practice, Mr. Cali provides advice and counsel on numerous matters relating to design and construction contract formation, negotiations, and enforcement; bidding and bid protests; inverse condemnation and related matters; and miscellaneous statutory and municipal code interpretation and enforcement issues, and assists clients in claims preparation, review, evaluation, analysis, and resolution. 

Mr. Cali also represents clients in general commercial disputes; residential, insurance, and real property disputes; legal malpractice matters; insurance disputes; product liability; and general litigation matters. He has participated in jury trials, court trials, arbitrations, and mediations throughout his legal career.  Mr. Cali has also served as a judge pro tem in Alameda County Small Claims Court.

Education

  • University of California, Berkeley, 1981
  • J.D., Golden Gate University, School of Law, San Francisco, 1988

Affiliations

  • American Bar Association
  • Bar Association of San Francisco
  • Alameda County Bar Association

Professional Experience

Construction

Some representative projects that Mr. Cali has worked are listed below.

  • Major Domestic and International Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) Matters
    • Mr. Cali represents major EPC contractors in complex domestic and international design and construction litigation.  He has represented international EPC contractors in connection with process, gas recovery, power projects, petroleum refinary, and wastewater treatment facilities located domestically and internationally resulting in the recovery of tens of millions of dollars in arbitration and mediation/settlements.  He has worked with EPC contractors in evaluating and developing claims for additional compensation associated with extra scope work, delay, and lost productivity, and in defending against owner claims for delay and alleged project deficiencies. 
    • He has participated in international projects, including projects located in Europe and South America.  In one matter, Mr. Cali assisted in an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration involving a natural gas liquids platform project in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.  The Firm’s client was a major national engineering contractor.  Mr. Cali worked closely with Mr. Wulfsberg and Venezuelan local counsel in preparing the matter for arbitration, including substantial coordination of exhibits, preparing witness statements, and coordinating with Venezuelan legal counsel in the preparation of arbitration submissions and related briefing.  After an arbitration proceeding in Miami, Florida, before a three-member panel of ICC arbitrators, the panel issued an award to the client in excess of $19 million, together with a complete defense to the owner’s claims against the client. 
    • Mr. Cali was also involved in representing an international engineering firm client in disputes with a wastewater treatment plant owner in Ireland.  Mr. Cali actively assisted and worked closely with local  solicitors and barristers, and percipient and expert witnesses in preparation for trial venued in the London High Court of Justice, Technology and Construction Court, against certain London insurers.  The matter settled shortly before the trial was scheduled to commence;
  • City, Municipalities, Utility, Irrigation Districts, and Detention Facilities
    • Mr. Cali represents public entities with respect to the contract preparation, negotiation, bidding and bid protests, and construction and claims resolution of projects including civic centers, senior centers, municipal public works, and utility pipeline projects.  In one matter, Mr. Cali represented a municipal water district in litigation involving competing claims regarding a $24 million water pipeline project and the client’s default termination of the contractor.  Following extensive discovery, and a three-day mock jury trial and mediation, the client and contractor settled their claims for the client’s payment limited to the withheld retention.  Mr. Cali also assisted in a multi-week arbitration involving a major Northern California detention facility involving cross-claims for construction defects and claims for additional compensation for out-of-scope work, delay, and related claims.  The Firm represented the public entity owner in litigation against the contractor.  The public entity client settled with the contractor four weeks into the arbitration, agreeing to pay the contractor a sum significantly less than the cost of continuing the arbitration.
  • K-12 School Districts and Community College Districts
    • Mr. Cali assists school districts in drafting and negotiating design and construction contracts, advising districts on bidding and bid protest issues, assists in the resolution of claims during and after construction on numerous school projects, developing claims resolution and avoidance strategies, and mediates claims regarding multiple projects.  He has been involved in numerous school construction litigation matters and related mediations and/or settlement discussions. 
    • Mr. Cali also handled a four-month bench trial involving the construction of an elementary school.  As trial counsel, he represented a public school district in claims by the contractor against the school district for additional scope services and related claims, claims by the architect against the school district for additional fees, and claims by the school district against the architect for indemnity and related matters.  After closing arguments, the architect and contractor agreed to settle their respective claims, resulting in the school district paying a nominal sum to the contractor and a full resolution of all claims by and against the project architect. 
  • Private Owner-Developer Commercial and Residential Construction Matters
    • Mr. Cali also represented a commercial multi-story office real property developer in construction defect litigation, working with expert consultants to develop and advance remedial repair proposals participating in mediation, and obtaining favorable settlements to fund the remedial repairs.  In one matter, Mr. Cali participated in a six-week jury trial involving a commercial high-rise construction defect matter in Oakland, California.  The Firm represented the building owner against the architect following a settlement with the building’s general contractor.  The jury returned a multi-million dollar verdict in favor of the client. 
    • Mr. Cali has also represented a condominium homeowners’ association in resolving a construction defect dispute with the project’s developer that resulted in a multimillion dollar settlement.

Speaking Engagements and Publications

  • Contributing Author - Wiley Construction Law Update, "The Liability Gap Between Owner and Architect," 1997
  • Panel Member – American Bar Association Annual Meeting, “Stranger in a Strange Land:  International Construction Contracting in the 21st Century,” August 2004