J. Kent Holland A professional employed by a town to inspect the construction of a subdivision does not owe a duty of care to a developer or its contractor with whom the professional has no contractual relationship where it was not foreseeable and reasonable for the developer to rely on the services provided by the [...]
Design-Build contractor (Maeda Pacific Corp) engaged a design firm to prepare a cost estimate that it used in preparing a bid to the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (“Navy”) for a water supply system at the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. After being awarded the design-build contract, the contractor engaged the design firm to [...]
Contractor Permitted to Sue Architect for Implied Warranty of Specifications
A Builder/Contractor that was building a house for a client/homeowner, used architectural plans that were drafted by an architect under contract with the homeowner, was permitted to sue the architect (with whom it had no independent contract) for breach of implied warranty of the plans and specifications to design the house, aligned in a manner [...]
Economic Loss Doctrine Bars Contractor’s Insurance Carrier from Bringing Subrogation action against Design Professional for Negligence
Where Contractor’s insurance carrier brought a subrogation action against the project’s design professional for negligent performance, including failure to prepare contract drawings and specifications in a manner “fully coordinated for bidding by the various contractors” as required in the design professional’s scope of service, it was held that the insurer had no third-party beneficiary rights [...]
Contractors May Bring Action for Economic Losses Against Design Professionals in Pennsylvania
By: Andrew B. Cohn, Esq. A very recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court opinion (January 2005) has significantly changed Pennsylvania law, allowing a general contractor to directly sue an architect in negligence for additional construction costs caused by defective plans, drawings, and specifications. Based on this decision, contractors working on Pennsylvania projects may now bring direct actions [...]
A/E Potentially Liable to Contractor for Defective Design Documents
A general contractor sued a project architect, alleging that the architect prepared erroneous design documents knowing that the project owner would supply them to the successful bidder who would be injured if they were inadequate. An appellate court held the allegations were sufficient to establish a special relationship between the parties, thus permitting the suit [...]
Contractor may sue construction manager for negligent misrepresentation and supervision
Contractor sued a construction manager (CM) for breach of contract and negligence, claiming that the CM had negligently supplied information, and that it relied on those misrepresentations and incurred damages as a result. Contractor also claimed that the CM was negligent in its coordination and supervision of the contractors. The trial court dismissed the case [...]
No A/E duty to Subcontractor to Assure Payment Bond Procured or That General Contractor Paid Him Prior to Progress Payment Being Approved
A subcontractor worked on a project for five months without being paid and then sued the A/E for negligence, claiming that the A/E owed it a duty, as a third party beneficiary, to assure that the contractor maintained a payment bond or paid the subcontractor before being given his progress payments. Plaintiff, subcontractor, argued that [...]
Contractor sues engineer for misrepresenting site conditions
Where a general contractor prepared its bid in reliance upon information provided by the project owner’s engineer, and the site conditions differed from what was represented, the contractor sued the engineer for misrepresenting the conditions. Both the contractor and the engineer had separate contracts with the owner and there was no contractual relationship between the [...]
Engineer Sued by City for Negligently Recommending Acceptance of Low Bidder
Where an engineer was required by contract with a city to recommend a contractor following competitive bidding, a court held that because the bid by the contractor that the engineer recommended be accepted was dramatically lower than the other bidders, it was foreseeable that the contractor could not, or would not, perform the services for [...]
