Thomas W. Newton

Professional Overview

Tom Newton has practiced law for more than four decades, focusing on construction litigation and transactional work. After his admission to the California Bar in 1984, he worked as a litigator representing sureties in construction bond matters and design professionals in errors and omissions disputes. He gained valuable experience in mechanics lien law and related non-payment remedies, construction contract interpretation and enforcement, and the standards of care applicable to the various actors in the construction and development field.

In 1986, Tom co-founded a boutique law firm, where he continued as a construction litigator and broadened his scope of services to include business entity formation, corporate governance, and construction transactional work. He developed particular expertise in litigation involving geotechnical engineering and expanded the firm’s practice to include construction defect litigation and later real estate transactional and litigation services.

In 2006, Tom joined the board of directors of Aircraft X-Ray Laboratories, Inc., and in 2010 he joined the company full-time as chief legal and chief operating officer. While there, he participated in NADCAP, an international accrediting board for the aerospace industry, and in 2014 he was appointed Chair of the NADCAP Supplier Support Committee and a member of the NADCAP Management Council.

In 2015, Tom returned to the full-time practice of law, continuing to serve the construction and real estate industries in both transactional and litigation roles. Since May 2021, Tom has worked on construction defect litigation and first-party insurance claim disputes.

Representative Matters

• Managed the construction take-over of a fire station at a military airbase on behalf of a performance bond surety following the general contractor’s default.
• Represented a commercial building owner in litigation against a demolition contractor for botched asbestos removal, obtaining a verdict for the client at trial.
• Represented a construction manager in a breach of contract action brought by a subcontractor, resulting in a no-payment dismissal with prejudice.
• Represented a residential owner in litigation over a landslide, obtaining a favorable settlement funded by insurance carriers.
• Conducted contract reviews for a general building and engineering contractor, negotiating significant revisions with owners’ representatives and reducing the client’s potential exposure to claims.
• Represented a concrete subcontractor in construction defect litigation brought by a condominium homeowners association, obtaining a nuisance value settlement at mediation.
• Represented a restaurant owner in two lawsuits brought by Unruh Civil Rights Act serial plaintiffs, obtaining a nuisance value settlement in one case and a no-payment dismissal with prejudice in the second.
• Represented a dewatering subcontractor sued in a multi-plaintiff soils subsidence case involving multimillion-dollar demands, obtaining a dismissal with prejudice for the client the day before trial for $12.00.