What tort obligations does a design professional on a construction project owe to non-parties — like, for example, the persons who will use what has been designed after it is built? Tort law involves the idea of a duty of...more
Design professionals doing business in Kentucky beware: the Kentucky Court of Appeals recently held that a contractor may pursue a negligent misrepresentation claim against an architect for delays to a project resulting from...more
Elliott-Lewis Corp. v. Skanksa USA Bldg., Inc., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59406 (E.D.Pa. May 4, 2016) - The Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held that the narrow exception to the economic loss...more
Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc. v. Rummel Klepper & Kahl, LLP, 226 Md. App. 420, 130 A.3d 1024, 2016 Md. App. LEXIS 3 ( Md. Ct. Spec. App. Jan. 28, 2016) The City of Baltimore retained a design professional, Rummel...more
A recent Pennsylvania case, Gongloff Contracting, LLC v. L. Robert Kimball & Assocs., Architects and Engineers, Inc., sheds light on circumstances in which design errors can lead to damages in tort as courts recognize...more
In some states, courts allow contractors to sue design professionals for negligence even in the absence of a contract. In others, like Maryland, courts apply a rule known as the Economic Loss Rule (ELR) to bar such claims....more
Elliot-Lewis Corp. v. Skanska USA Building, Inc., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98405 (E.D. Pa. July 27, 2015) - This dispute arises out of a major renovation and expansion of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (the...more
In 2009, the Nevada Supreme Court (“NSC”) applied the economic loss rule to bar claims of professional negligence by design professionals in commercial construction projects, ruling that “[i]n the context of engineers and...more