Warranties provided to project owners are often some of the most-negotiated provisions in a construction contract. What will the warranties cover? How can they be enforced? Perhaps most importantly: how long will they be...more
The Pennsylvania Statute of Repose for Improvements to Real Property, 42 Pa. C.S. § 5536 (PA Statute of Repose) is a powerful tool that provides protections to persons lawfully performing or furnishing the design, planning,...more
It’s a contractor’s worst nightmare: someone you haven’t heard from in ages, or ever, sues you, claiming a defect in the construction you performed years ago. But when is it too late to bring such a claim? You may think that...more
HB 2024 - Statute of Repose Shortened to Six Years if a Builder Provides a Warranty - A statute of repose is the outside deadline for a claimant to bring a legal action. For nearly 50 years, Texas has imposed a ten-year...more
Last October, Rumberger attorney Jason Bullinger and attorney Dan Webster at Daniel J. Webster, P.A. obtained a win for Florida contractors, engineers, and architects in Florida by persuading a Volusia County Circuit judge...more
In University of Massachusetts Building Authority v. Adams Plumbing & Heating, Inc., 2023 Mass. App. Unpub. LEXIS 28, 102 Mass. App. Ct. 1107, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts (Appeals Court) considered whether the lower...more
In Venema v. Moser Builders, Inc., 2022 PA Super. 171, 2022 Pa. Super. LEXIS 414, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (Superior Court) upheld an award of judgment on the pleadings from the Court of Common Pleas of Chester...more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently issued a decision in Gaston County Board of Education v. Shelco, LLC, et al that has the potential to significantly impact the time limits for claims on construction projects....more
In State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Wangs Alliance Corp., No. 21-cv-10389-AK, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26712, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (District Court) considered whether a product...more
As the end of the 87th Texas legislative regular session approaches, we appear to be on the verge of having new, shortened statutes of repose for design and construction claims by certain Texas governmental entities. This is...more
Have you ever wondered when Massachusetts’ 6-year statute of repose for defective design, planning and construction is triggered when dealing with the construction of a multi-building, multi-year condominium construction...more
Imagine the following. A developer consults with an architect in 2020 about a six-building condominium project. The architect promptly produces a set of plans, which are stamped by an engineer. Over the next three years, the...more
The Massachusetts Statute of Repose requires litigants to assert within six years all tort claims arising out of the design, construction, or administration of improvements to real property. The Statute begins to run upon the...more
Florida’s Statute of Limitations and Statute of Repose for construction and design defect claims are each contained in § 95.11(3)(c), Florida Statutes, which provides, in relevant part: We are frequently retained by...more
Arizona recently amended its Purchaser Dwelling Action statute to, among other things, involve all contractors in the process, establish the parties’ burdens of proof, add an attorney fees provision, establish procedural...more
Most private construction contracts contain binding arbitration clauses and apply the “law of the state where the project is located.” While arbitration is less formal than court/litigation, legal defenses are often raised,...more
In United Services Automobile Association v. Broan-Nutone, LLC, No. 218-2017-CV-01113, the Superior Court of Rockingham County, New Hampshire recently considered whether the eight-year statute of repose for improvements to...more
Claims Arising Out of a Deficiency or Negligence in the Design, Planning, Construction and General Administration of Improvements to Real Property Among Those Affected. In Stearns v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the...more
The Texas Legislature is back in session, and lawmakers generally have until March 8, 2019 to file bills for consideration this session. In our original post on January 31, 2019, we identified several bills of interest to the...more
The Fourth District Court of Appeals in Florida recently issued a decision in Gindel v. Centex Homes, that increases the amount of time homeowners have to file a lawsuit against homebuilders. The Court relied on basic...more
Florida imposes a statutory requirement to provide pre-suit notice to recovery targets when the potential claim involves construction defects. While the required notice tolls the statute of limitations for such claims, an...more
In Florida, the allowed timeframe for bringing a lawsuit based either on a defect in the design, planning, or construction of a building or based on other improvements to real property is governed by Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)(c)....more
On September 12, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that a Chapter 558 notice of defect can be considered the “commencement” of a construction defect action. Robert Grindel, et al. v. Centex Homes, et al., 2018 WL...more
Earlier this summer, in Gables & Villas at River Oaks Homeowners Ass’n v. Castlewood Builders LLC, 2018 UT 28, the Supreme Court of Utah addressed the question of whether the plaintiff’s construction defects claims against...more
Under Florida’s construction-related statute of repose, Fla. Stat. § 95.11, actions based on the design, planning or construction of an improvement to real property are barred if not commenced within 10 years after the later...more