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Mealey's Construction Defects

  • July 26, 2021

    Condo Association Opposes Attorney Fees For Developer After Arbitration Ordered

    SARASOTA, Fla. — A condominium association that sued the developer and various contractors in a Florida court alleging numerous construction defects filed an opposition on July 19 arguing for a second time that the developer is not entitled to attorney fees after presuit mediation and arbitration were ordered.

  • July 26, 2021

    Defects Claims ‘Conclusively’ Barred By Statute Of Limitations, Companies Argue

    NEW CASTLE, Del. — With the undisputed evidence showing that a couple knew about water leaks in their home at least eight years before they sued construction companies, a trial court correctly awarded the companies summary judgment on negligent construction claims based on the three-year statute of limitations, the companies argue in a July 19 response brief to the couple’s appeal in the Delaware Supreme Court.

  • July 22, 2021

    Indiana Court: Breach Of Contract Claim Fails Because No Notice Of Defects Given

    INDIANAPOLIS — Homeowners’ claim that a builder constructed portions of their home defectively and breached the parties’ contractual warranty failed because the homeowners did not provide notice and opportunity for the builder to fix the alleged defects, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed July 14, adding that the trial court’s application of the implied warranty of habitability would not change the result.

  • July 20, 2021

    Couple, Defendant Debate Subsequent Purchaser Rule In Drywall MDL

    NEW ORLEANS — A couple has asked the federal judge Louisiana overseeing the Chinese drywall litigation multidistrict litigation to revisit a summary judgment ruling, saying he misapplied the subsequent purchaser doctrine.  But in a July 13 response, the company says the couple never pursued an indemnification claim or argued that it interrupted prescription.

  • July 15, 2021

    Builder Waives Response To Homeowners’ Rehearing Motion In Texas Arbitration Appeal

    AUSTIN, Texas — A builder accused by a Texas couple of defective construction that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to their home on July 13 waived its right to respond to the couple’s motion for rehearing filed after a Texas appellate court on June 30 reversed a trial court’s order denying the builder’s plea in abatement and motion to compel arbitration.

  • July 15, 2021

    Edward Jones Will Pay $34M To End Class Claims Of Racial Discrimination

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on July 12 granted final approval of a $34 million class settlement to be paid by Edward D. Jones & Co. L.P. to end claims that it segregated its workforce and denied African Americans income and advancement opportunities.

  • July 14, 2021

    11th Circuit En Banc Rehearing Sought In Drywall Class Counsel Award

    ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling affirming an award of 45% of their attorney fees to global settlement class counsel is contrary to U.S. Supreme Court decisions and circuit precedent, individual counsel who negotiated private settlements in fractured multidistrict litigation against Chinese drywall manufacturers argue in a June 30 petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc.

  • July 01, 2021

    Chinese Drywall Suit Untimely; Equitable Tolling Does Not Apply, 5th Circuit Rules

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 8 denied rehearing of its ruling affirming summary judgment in favor of a manufacturer of Chinese-manufactured drywall, ruling that the equitable tolling principles of American Pipe did not render a homeowner’s claim for damages timely.

  • July 01, 2021

    Association Appeals Florida Court’s Ruling On Statute Of Repose

    DAYTONA BREACH, Fla. — Oral argument was requested June 4 in a Fifth District Florida Court of Appeal case challenging a trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment on claims related to allegations of faulty stucco work on townhomes based on calculating Florida’s statute of repose from the issuance of certificates of occupancy, according to the court docket.

  • July 01, 2021

    Roofing Spat Dismissed Days After Judge Allows Acts-Of-God Affirmative Defense

    MINNEAPOLIS — Days after a federal judge in Minnesota ruled that the maker of allegedly defective roofing membranes may plead acts of God but not spoliation of evidence as an affirmative defense in response to a supplemental complaint from Target Corp. that increased the number of stores at issue by two, the parties on June 30 filed a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice and the judge dismissed the case.

  • June 30, 2021

    11th Circuit Affirms Drywall Class Counsel Award From Individual Counsel Fees

    ATLANTA — It was not an abuse of discretion to award 45% of attorney fees obtained by individual counsel who negotiated private settlements in fractured multidistrict litigation against Chinese drywall manufacturers to the global settlement class counsel as common benefit costs and fees, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled June 9, affirming the judgment of a federal judge in Florida.

  • June 30, 2021

    HOA Appeals Arbitration Order For Some Claims To Florida Appeals Court

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A homeowners’ association that is appealing a trial court’s ruling compelling arbitration of its claims in regard to 71 of 148 homes in a community based on the developer’s assertion that the original owners are bound by an arbitration agreement and still held the deeds to those homes has moved for oral argument in the case, according to a May 12 docket entry in the First District Florida Court of Appeal.

  • June 30, 2021

    Florida Condo Owner Files Class Suit Over Building’s Partial Collapse

    MIAMI — In a putative class complaint filed June 28 accusing a condominium association at a Surfside, Fla., building that partially collapsed on June 24 of negligence and breach of contract, a condo owner asks that the Miami-Dade County, Fla., Circuit Court coordinate all the litigation and discovery that will ensue as “there are, and will be, many more victims of this terrible disaster and any and all insurance proceeds need to be gathered and shared by the proposed class appropriately and equitably” and appoint her counsel as interim lead counsel.

  • June 30, 2021

    Homeowners Challenge Expert, Claims Exclusion In Suit Over Defective Roofs

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A trial judge improperly excluded expert testimony, limited defective roof claims to actual damage and permitted the builder to raise an untimely statute of limitations defense, two homeowners tell a California appellate court in a May 17 opening brief asking for reversal of judgment and a new trial.

  • June 29, 2021

    Louisiana Panel Upholds Discretionary Immunity For Parish Government

    BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana statutes give a parish government and its employees an affirmative defense of discretionary immunity against claims related to issuance of permits and approval of a subdivision that was damaged by flooding, a Louisiana appeals panel ruled June 22, partly affirming and partly reversing a trial court’s judgment in favor of the parish government and its employees on several motions for summary judgment.

  • June 28, 2021

    Judge Allows Acts-Of-God Affirmative Defense In Roofing Spat, Strikes Spoliation

    MINNEAPOLIS — The maker of allegedly defective roofing membranes may plead an acts-of-God affirmative defense in response to a supplemental complaint from Target Corp. that increased the number of stores at issue by two, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled June 21, denying Target’s motion to strike newly asserted affirmative defenses on that count but granting it as to spoliation of evidence, which the judge said “is not an affirmative defense.”

  • June 25, 2021

    Some Class Settlement Opt-Out Forms Struck; Sanctions Denied In PEX Piping Suits

    SAN ANTONIO — Ruling on motions for sanctions and curative action filed simultaneously by NIBCO Inc. in two parallel class actions over allegedly faulty piping after counsel in one of the cases sent communication to class members in the other case after a preliminary settlement was reached urging them to opt out, a federal magistrate judge on June 10 issued an order in the preliminary settled case striking certain class settlement opt-out forms and reopening the opt-out period for affected class members but denying sanctions and an order on June 15 in the other case dismissing it in part as moot.

  • June 24, 2021

    North Carolina Panel Affirms Attorney Fee Award To Defendant, Vacates Amount

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A trial court was within its discretion to award a reasonable attorney fee to a contractor because the court’s findings of fact support a conclusion that homeowners who asserted claims of fraud and deceptive trade practices “should have known that the action was frivolous or malicious,” the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled June 15, vacating and remanding the $12,000 award amount because the trial court didn’t support it with sufficient findings of fact.

  • June 23, 2021

    Magistrate Dismisses Consumer Fraud Claim In Illinois Breach Of Contract Suit

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Standing alone, a property owner’s allegations that a contractor failed “to fulfill the express and implied promises in the contract” to repair a roof are not actionable under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act, a federal magistrate judge in Illinois ruled June 15, granting the contractor’s motion to dismiss as to the consumer fraud claim but denying dismissal as to the breach of contract claim.

  • June 21, 2021

    Justice Dismisses Owner’s Foundational Damage Suit Against Neighbors, Engineer

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York state court justice on May 26 dismissed a property owner’s suit against the owners of a neighboring building and their engineer for foundational damages caused by construction, finding that the engineer did not work on the foundation and that the claims against the neighboring owners were time-barred.