NEW YORK — Genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether a penthouse owner owed a duty to a fellow resident-shareholder whose apartment unit, located one floor below the penthouse, was allegedly damaged by renovations to the penthouse, a New York justice held in granting and denying summary judgment to multiple parties to the action.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted an unopposed motion for an extension of an administrative stay filed by a coalition of American plywood manufacturers that sought more time to negotiate the settlement of claims it brought against a plywood certifying agency for allegedly certifying substandard Brazilian structural plywood as meeting U.S. standards.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A roofing contractor inadequately responded to interrogatories by filing objections and substantive answers to questions from a manufacturer of roofing products, a Florida federal magistrate judge found in granting the manufacturer’s motion to compel and ordering the contractor to file new responses to the interrogatories and a new computation of the alleged damages it incurred from the manufacturer’s sprayable roofing projects.
HOUSTON — A property owner’s claims arising from water leaks at a newly constructed retail building are barred by the statute of limitations because the owner failed to file the clams within four years and nothing tolled the applicable limitations period, a Texas panel found May 18 in affirming a trial court’s ruling.
SAN FRANCISCO — A homeowner’s claims that a contractor failed to properly install custom windows and doors were time-barred because the repairs to the windows and doors did not toll the applicable statute of limitations, a California panel found in affirming a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the contractor.
MOBILE, Ala. — Upon receiving notification of the parties’ settlement, an Alabama federal dismissed with prejudice a case in which a homeowner alleged that various parties contributed to the installation of defective stucco products during the construction of a new home.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Two roofing contractors are not entitled to summary judgment on breach of contract and negligence claims brought against them by a condominium association because there are questions of fact as to whether falling shingles were sufficient to put the association on notice of its claims, a Delaware judge held in denying the contractors’ motion for summary judgment based on the statute of limitations.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court found that a subsequent purchaser of a home that allegedly suffers from mold damage is required to arbitrate against the home’s builder because the subsequent purchaser’s implied warranty claims arise from the contract for the home’s original sale, which contained an arbitration agreement.
TOMS RIVER, N.J. — Professional negligence claims brought by two homeowners against an architectural firm that inspected a newly built foundation that was later deemed to be unsafe were dismissed by a New Jersey court because the homeowners’ expert failed to establish a proper standard of care to support the claims.
BEAUMONT, Texas — A homeowner who refused to pay a contractor for repairs made to his home in the wake of Hurricane Harvey failed to support his counterclaims for substandard repair against the contractor with sufficient evidence, a Texas appellate court panel found in reversing and remanding a trial court’s judgment in favor of the homeowner.
PITTSBURGH — In a motion to amend, a property development company and one of its partners request that a ruling on summary judgment in which a Pennsylvania federal judge dismissed several claims arising from a landslide that damaged three new homes under the statute of repose be applied to them under the law of the case doctrine.
BALTIMORE — A property owner who sought reconsideration of an order denying summary judgment for negligence claims brought by the purchaser of the property over the construction of a retaining wall failed to present new arguments or evidence regarding the claims, a Maryland federal judge found in denying reconsideration.
LOS ANGELES — In denying two separate motions for default judgment filed by a builder against subcontractors that failed to respond to pleadings arising from the alleged defective construction of a youth center, a California federal judge found that the builder failed to provide evidence of its alleged damages.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky appellate court panel overturned a trial court’s finding that an arbitration provision in a warranty for structural home defects was unenforceable because in their complaint against the home warranty administrator, the homeowners filed a demand for arbitration, which served as a judicial admission that the provision was enforceable.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A homebuilder mischaracterizes a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling in an attempt to show that the state high court was biased against arbitration agreements in its petition for writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, a group of homeowners who sued the builder for allegedly defective construction of their new homes argued in their brief in opposition to the petition.
NEW ORLEANS — In their response to a motion to dismiss filed by a roofing manufacturer, a property owner and an operator of a nursing home argue that their negligence claim is not barred by the Louisiana Products Liability Act (LPLA) because the manufacturer’s own employees negligently oversaw the installation of roofing products that caused damage to the property during Hurricane Ida.
FLINT, Mich. — By moving into a new home that allegedly suffered from defects, a homeowner accepted the home as completed and cannot assert a counterclaim for breach of contract against the builder of the residence, a Michigan federal judge held in granting summary judgment in favor of the builder on the homeowner’s counterclaims.
STAMFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge found that the evidence presented at a hearing established probable cause that judgment would be entered in favor of a homeowner who alleged that a contractor and its principal failed to properly install a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system in her home.
BALTIMORE — After a group of homeowners agreed in their response to a developer’s motion to compel arbitration that the remaining construction defects claims between the parties should be arbitrated, a Maryland federal judge on May 1 granted the developer’s motion as well as the homeowners’ request to stay the case instead of dismissing it.
PITTSBURGH — Disputes of material fact exist only regarding breach of contract and negligence claims brought by a homebuilder against two developers who worked on a housing development in which three homes were damaged by a landslide, a Pennsylvania federal judge found in granting partial summary judgment to the two developers while granting complete summary judgment to eight other parties involved with the project who were ultimately found not responsible for the landslide.