The Supreme Court of Utah recently found that an incorrect pre-construction geotechnical engineering report is a “defective design.” Thus, actions arising from an incorrect geotechnical report are appropriately governed by...more
Sutton v. Vermont Regional Center, 2019 VT 71 (Oct. 14, 2019) - Despite its longstanding reputation as liberal and sympathetic to plaintiffs, the Vermont Supreme Court has for a very long time strictly enforced the...more
Precision Hydraulic Cylinders, Inc. v. Manufacturing. Technology, Inc., No. 7:18-CV-203-FL, 2019 BL 344743, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 156670 (E.D.N.C. Sept. 13, 2019) - Precision Hydraulic Cylinders, Inc. (“Precision”) issued...more
Popple Construction, Inc. v. Reilly Associates, Inc. No. 775-MDA-2017, 2019 BL 213236 (Pa. Sup. Ct., June 10, 2019). On June 10, 2019, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed a lower court decision to deny a motion to...more
Deceptive Trade Practices - Meat Exporter Had No Duty Under FCA to Pay for Beef Inspection - In United States ex rel. Barrick v. Parker-Migliorini Int'l, LLC, 878 F. 3d 1224 (10th Cir. 2017), the court affirmed...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
D.W. Wilburn, Inc. v. K. Norman Berry Assocs., No. 2015-CA-001254-MR, 2016 Ky. App. Lexis 206 (Ky. Ct. App. Dec. 22, 2016) - This case arose out of a construction project in which the Oldham County Board of Education...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
Gongloff Contracting, L.L.C. v. L. Robert Kimball & Assocs., Architects and Eng’rs, Inc., 2015 Pa. Super 149 (Pa. Super. Ct. July 8, 2015) - Pennsylvania law generally bars negligence claims when the injured party has...more
Texas contractors have long tried to directly sue their owners’ professional design firms -- rarely with success -- when faulty plans cause economic losses such as increased costs from delays and disruptions. A few cases in...more
On June 20, Texas joined a number of states that apply the economic loss rule to damages claims arising from negligent misrepresentation between contractors and the owner’s architect. In LAN/STV v. Martin K. Eby Construction...more
Can a contractor sue the project’s designer for losses allegedly caused by errors in construction documents? This question was presented in the Eby v. LAN/STV case, which is now before the Texas Supreme Court....more
Last week, in Sullivan v. Pulte Home Corp., No. CV-12-0419-PR, Arizona’s highest court took on a lingering question about the scope of economic loss doctrine since its landmark decision of Flagstaff Affordable Hous. Ltd....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