KENT B SCOTT

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GENERAL OVERVIEW

Current Employer-Title Babcock Scott & Babcock, P.C. – Shareholder

Profession

Mediator, Arbitrator and Attorney

Work History

Shareholder, Babcock Scott & Babcock, P.C., 1987-present

Shareholder, Nielsen and Senior P.C., 1973-87

Experience Mr. Scott is a mediator, arbitrator and trial attorney with 42 years' experience, primarily engaged in the prevention and resolution of construction project disputes. He has mediated over 400 and arbitrated over 180 construction related disputes.
   
Mediated cases include:  
  - Over 300 disputes involving defective construction between owners and contractors and between contractors and subcontractors.
   
  - 10 cases involving differing site conditions. Claims include site surveying, grading, water, rock and hazardous waste matters ($1 million).
   
  - Five cases involving the enforcement of restrictive covenants by home owner associations.
   
  - One case involving claims by a successor homeowner association against a prior homeowner's association for fraud, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty ($750,000).
   
  - Differing site condition claim on a water and sewer project ($1.2 million in dispute)
   
  - Numerous claims between homeowner and contractor involving construction defects, delay, design defects payment, fraud and misrepresentation issues.
   
  - Claim involving flooding due to improper grading and compaction among a homeowners association of a PUD, county government, prime contractor and subcontractors ($500,000 in dispute).
   
  - Four claims for soils subsidence (ranging from $500,000 to $1.4 million).
   
  - Three claims for mechanical equipment and pipe installation.
   
Arbitrated cases include:  
  - Sole arbitrator on a claim involving infrastructure improvements on a housing development project ($7 million in dispute).
   
  - Panel chair on a claim involving the construction of a road and waterline regarding change orders and defective work.
   
  - Over 25 claims arbitrated involving construction defects on residential homes ranging from $25,000 to $6,000,000.
   
   - Panel member involving claims among several parties for breach of contract, surety bond claims, and fraud in connection with the construction of a hotel, casino and resort project (approximately $54 million in dispute).
   
  - Panel chair involving dispute between members of homeowner association regarding breach of restrictive covenants.
   
  - Panel chair involving defective construction, delay and wrongful termination claim in the construction of a casino (approximately $22 million).
   
  - Panel chair involving defective design on a multi-use project involving condominiums and retail shopping center ($12 million)
   
  - Panel involving the construction of a resort hotel and casino project involving defective work, delay and change orders ($11 million).
   
  - Panel chair on a claim involving defective and incomplete construction of a large commercial warehouse ($2 million).
   
  - Sole arbitrator for a claim involving defective construction claims on a hotel, casino and resort project ($450,000 in dispute).
   

Professional Licenses           

 

Admitted to the Bar: Utah, 1973; U.S. District Court, District of Utah, 1973; U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth (1977) and Federal (1994) Circuits; U.S. Court of Federal Claims, 1992; U.S. Supreme Court, 2006.
   
Professional Associations      American Bar Association (Dispute Resolution Section; Forum Committee on the Construction Industry); Utah Bar Association (Dispute Resolution Section, Founding Member and Past Chair; Construction Law Section, Founding Member and Past Chair; Litigation Section, Past Chair); Utah Council on Conflict Resolution (Past Board of Directors).
   

Education     

University of Utah (BS, magna cum laude-1971); University of Utah College of Law (JD-1973).
   

Awards and Honors                

 

- Fellow:  American Bar Foundation, 2015
-   U.S. News Best Lawyers, top tier. 2013-15
-   Utah Legal Elite (Top 100), 2006-2015
- Intermountain SuperLawyers (Top 100): 2007-2015
- ADR Section - Utah Bar Section of the Year, 2005
- Utah Bar Association: Distinguished Service Award, 2003
   
Publications and
Speaking Engagements
Authored several publications and articles including:
   
  - “Mediation 101- Help Me Help You.” UTAH STATE BAR JOURNAL, Vol. 28 No. 2015.
   
  -   “Creating and Economical and Efficient Arbitration Process is Everyone's Business, "DISPUTE RESOLUTION JOURNAL August/October 2012.
   
  - "Questions Clients Have about Whether (and How) to Mediate and How Counsel Should Answer Them," DISPUTE RESOLUTION JOURNAL, May/July 2008.
   
  - "Arbitration - In Trouble Again?" UTAH STATE BAR JOURNAL, Vol. 20 No. 4, 2008.
   
  - "Maneuvering Through Mediation," UTAH STATE BAR JOURNAL, September/October 2005.
   
  - Utah's Revised Uniform Arbitration Act, A Makeover for the Face of Arbitration," UTAH STATE BAR JOURNAL, Vol. 16, No. 9.
   
  Speaker at several programs for several construction industry programs sponsored by, among others, the American Bar Association, American Arbitration Association, Utah Bar Association, Association of General Contractors of America, American Builders and Contractors of America, Lorman Education Services, Inc., and National Business Institute.
 
   
  Testified before various legislative committees on proposed construction related legislation, the Revised Utah Uniform Arbitration Act and the Utah Uniform Mediation Act.