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Construction

Oct. 16, 2026

Prevailing wages, unexpected bills: Two lessons from Nabors

Mistakenly treating a project as exempt from prevailing wages can leave contractors facing increased costs. Nabors provides two takeaways on recovering those costs and the limits of retroactive statutory application.

Garret D. Murai

Partner
Nomos LLP

Email: gmurai@nomosllp.com

Garret is the editor of the California Construction Law Blog at www.calconstructionlawblog.com.

See more...

Prevailing wages, unexpected bills: Two lessons from <i>Nabors</i>
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In a case that I'm frankly surprised I don't see more of, in Nabors Corporate Services, Inc. v. City of Long Beach, 108 Cal.App.5th 540 (2025), the Court of Appeal examined an indemnity claim by a subcontractor against a general contractor and public entity that mistakenly believed that a construction project did not require the payment of prevailing wages.

The Nabors case

Subcontractor Nabors Corporate Services, Inc. sued general ...

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