Bret M. Feldman

Bret Feldman is a board-certified construction lawyer practicing in the areas of construction and commercial litigation. He specializes in resolving construction disputes for clients through negotiation, litigation, arbitration, or mediation. His clients typically include project developers, engineers, architects, contractors, sub-contractors, material suppliers, property owners, and condominium and homeowners’ associations. In addition to drafting and negotiating construction contracts, he has litigated cases involving claims for breach of contract, breach of warranty, design or construction defects, insurance coverage and defense, negligence and professional negligence, unjust enrichment, construction liens, non-competes and product defect litigation. He regularly appears in Florida’s state and federal courts.

Bret has served as developers’ counsel in numerous design defect and construction defect claims, many involving the statutory warranty under Chapter 718, Florida Statutes. He has represented design professionals and contractors in construction disputes with owners and has served as counsel for owners and associations in claims against developers, contractors, and designers. He has also defended engineers against claims of negligence and breach of contract for their work on Environmental Site Assessments.

Bret has both prosecuted and defended construction lien claims on behalf of contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, and owners. He regularly assists clients by preparing construction contracts on behalf of both owners and contractors.

As a construction attorney with a focus on technology, Bret is well-suited to litigate or negotiate construction issues related to the emerging autonomous vehicle and drone industry. He currently sits on the Tampa Chapter board of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), where he offers insight on the impacts of autonomous technology on roadway and structure construction, city planning, and the use of drones in the construction insurance industries and related services.

Bret regularly evaluates insurance agreements to identify potential coverage for construction claims and has been retained by various insurance companies to defend insured parties against design and construction claims brought by third-party claimants. He counsels insurers on coverage in commercial general liability and professional liability policies, and evaluates and litigates insurance liability in construction defect matters.

Being board-certified, Bret is part of a small group of highly qualified lawyers in Florida. Only about seven percent of lawyers achieve board certification, which is the highest level of evaluation of proficiency and experience given by the Florida Bar. Board-certified lawyers go through a rigorous process to become specialist in their chosen fields, including showing significant involvement in their fields, receiving a passing grade on a required exam, and undergoing a successful peer review of competence, character, ethics and professionalism.

In the community, Bret is a graduate of Leadership Tampa’s Class of 2014 and a member of Leadership Tampa Alumni. Members of Leadership Tampa are business/professional people who hold leadership positions within their companies or organizations, have demonstrated a concern for community issues, and volunteered their time with service and professional organizations. The selection process is rigorous and competitive for each of the 50-60 seats available in each class. He also serves as an alternate member of Tampa’s Variance Review Board (VRB), which is charged with granting code variances pertaining to zoning, signage, and tree/landscape regulations. Bret serves on the board of directors for the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and provides legal counsel to the non-profit entity. As part of his service to MOSI, he helped develop the largest children’s science center in the country, MOSI’s “Kids in Charge!”