A homeowner’s house developed large cracks in its foundation and walls due to settling, lateral movement of the foundation, and an unstable slope of the building lot. It filed suit against a geotechnical engineering firm that had ten years earlier prepared a site...
Contractor sued its client, the project owner, and sued the construction manager (CM) that was under contract to the owner – alleging that the CM failed in its obligation and duty to oversee and administer the project according to industry standards thereby impeding...
By J. Kent Holland, Jr., Esq. The Maryland Court of Appeals applied the economic loss doctrine to bar a claim against an engineer by a general contractor seeking to recover economic losses based upon reliance on allegedly defective designs. In the absence of...
An error was made by a surveyor in setting the level for a foundation pad for a church building. A construction contractor then proceeded to excavate dirt from the foundation area, believing the resulting level would be higher than required by the base flood...
Kent Holland, J.D. ConstructionRisk, LLC Where the developer of an apartment complex filed suit as an intended beneficiary under the contract between a window manufacturer and one of the subcontractors on the project, the trial court denied the manufacturer’s demurrer...
Kent Holland, J.D. ConstructionRisk, LLC Where a homeowner sued an architect for negligent misrepresentation and violation of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) based on the fact that the architect prepared and submitted a certification to the local government as...
Gail S. Kelley, J.D., PE ConstructionRisk, LLC In a dispute arising from defective concrete, State Ready Mix, Inc. v. Moffatt & Nichol, 232 Cal.App.4th 1227 (2015), the Appeals court found that the economic loss doctrine barred the concrete supplier’s claim...
Kent Holland ConstructionRisk, LLC In a decision that this author finds confusing, an appellate court in New York held that where there was expert testimony demonstrating that an A/E failed to meet the professional standard of care in designing sheer walls for the...
James N. Rhodes, J.D. ConstructionRisk, LLC The Supreme Court of Washington applied the state’s “independent duty doctrine” to allow a professional negligence and a negligent misrepresentation action to move forward by residential property owners against their...
An architect’s contract containing a limitation of liability clause (LoL) was enforced to grant a partial summary judgment limiting the architect’s liability to $70,000 in the face of a $4.2 million claim for damages due to structural problems that required a nearly...
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