Mealey's Construction Defects : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Construction Defects

March 23, 2023
Homeowners’ Water Damage Class Action Remanded For Being A Local Controversy

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A putative class of homeowners who alleged that the roofs of their homes were damaged by subcontractors successfully argued that all four requirements of the local controversy exception to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) applied in this instance, a South Carolina federal judge found in granting the homeowners’ motion to remand the action to state court.
March 23, 2023
Parties In Brazilian Plywood Dispute Say Motion For Preliminary Injunction Is Moot

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A coalition of American plywood manufacturers’ motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to stop the certification of allegedly substandard Brazilian plywood by the certifier is now moot because the certifier withdrew its accreditations and has begun winding down its operations, the coalition and a plywood certifying agency said in a joint status report filed in Florida federal court.
March 23, 2023
Evidence Excluded And Summary Judgment Denied In Chinese Drywall Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — In granting two property owners’ motion in limine, denying a manufacturer of defective Chinese drywall’s motion in limine and denying both parties motions for partial summary judgment, a Louisiana federal judge excluded evidence supporting the homeowners’ breach of express warranty claim and evidence of prior liability judgments against the manufacturer whose drywall allegedly damaged the owners’ properties.
March 22, 2023
Homeowners Association Seeks Rehearing Of Standing Ruling In Water Intrusion Case

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A homeowners association (HOA) on March 21 filed a petition for rehearing of a ruling in which a California appellate panel found the association had standing to assert construction defects claims for allegedly defective common areas, might have standing for damage to the individual owners’ units and did not have standing for claims brought under California’s Right to Repair Act.
March 22, 2023
Texas Panel Partially Grants Mandamus To Contractor In Negligent Construction Suit

EL PASO, Texas — A contractor is entitled to mandamus relief on an indemnification claim and part of a contribution claim brought in a third-party claim filed by an architecture firm that was sued for construction defects because the firm had no basis in law to assert the claims, a Texas appellate panel held in partially granting the contractor’s petition filed in response to a trial court’s denial of its motion to dismiss the claims.
March 21, 2023
La. Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Defective Home Claims, Finds Contract Was Invalid

BATON ROUGE, La. — Two homeowners cannot assert claims arising from a construction contract against a general contractor hired to build their new home because the contract between the parties was invalid, null and unenforceable, a Louisiana panel held in affirming a trial court’s decision to dismiss with prejudice the couple’s third-party claims of defective home construction against the contractor, which did not have a valid contractor’s license when it entered into the contract.
March 21, 2023
Idaho High Court: Economic Loss Claim Can’t Extend Landslide Damages Action

BOISE, Idaho — In rejecting a “novel” economic loss doctrine argument from a homebuilder that brought professional negligence claims against an engineering firm, the Idaho Supreme Court unanimously determined that the statute of limitations barred the claims because they were brought two years after a landslide, allegedly caused by the firm, damaged a home that was under construction.
March 17, 2023
Reconsideration Of Summary Judgment Sought In Failed Retaining Wall Dispute

BALTIMORE — A property owner who allegedly defectively constructed a retaining wall as part of a purchase and sale agreement over real property moved in Maryland federal court for reconsideration of an ordering denying its motion for summary judgment on the issue of substantial factor causation as it related to the wall’s failure.
March 15, 2023
Federal Judge Dismisses Claims, Orders Some Repleaded In Chinese Drywall Case

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida ordered a group of homeowners whose homes were affected by allegedly defective Chinese-manufactured drywall to replead their fraud claims because they failed to plead them with particularity and further dismissed their unjust enrichment and breach of express and/or implied warranty claims with prejudice.
March 15, 2023
Ohio Panel: No Issue Exists On Standard Of Care For Retaining Wall Construction

CINCINNATI — Three contractors who worked on the allegedly defective construction of a retaining wall are entitled to summary judgment because the developer overseeing the project did not present any expert testimony regarding what standard of care should have been used when building the wall, an Ohio appellate court panel held in affirming summary judgment in favor of the contractors.
March 15, 2023
N.Y. Justice Dismisses Mold And Water Intrusion Claims Against Architecture Firm

NEW YORK — In granting an architecture firm’s motion to dismiss water intrusion and mold claims brought by a condominium owner, a New York justice found that the owner was not an intended third-party beneficiary of the firm’s contract with the developer of the condominium building and that the three-year statute of limitations for claims against design professionals barred the claims.
March 14, 2023
Builder Asks Supreme Court If Anti-Arbitration Presumption Applies To Home Sales

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court review of a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling is necessary to determine whether state courts can apply presumptions disfavoring arbitration agreements in homebuying contracts, a homebuilder who was sued for construction defects argues in a petition for a writ of certiorari.
March 02, 2023
Louisiana Federal Judge Vacates Order Staying Mold Dispute In Favor Of Arbitration

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana federal judge granted a homebuilder’s motion for leave to waive its claim to attorney fees arising from an untimely opposition to a motion to stay pending arbitration filed by homeowners in their mold and water intrusion case; the March 1 order was filed less than a week after the judge granted the homeowners’ motion for reconsideration and vacated an earlier order staying their case in favor of arbitration but ordered them to show why they should not be required to pay attorney fees.
March 02, 2023
Colorado Federal Judge Grants Summary Judgment In Plumbing System Dispute

DENVER — A Colorado federal judge granted summary judgment to a chemical company and partial summary judgment to a pipe manufacturer whose products were used in a newly constructed apartment building’s plumbing system that, according to the building’s owner, allegedly leaked as a result of the companies’ faulty products or the system’s installation.
March 01, 2023
In Leaky Pool Case, Judge Partly Grants Summary Judgment, Excludes Testimony

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In three orders filed the same day, a Tennessee federal judge partially granted summary judgment in favor of a contractor that oversaw the construction of a leaky pool on a home property, partially excluded the testimony of the property owner’s expert witnesses and reset a new date for a jury trial.
February 28, 2023
Fla. Federal Judge Stays Plywood Dispute In Anticipation Of Accreditation Decision

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida federal judge temporarily stayed and administratively closed an action brought by a coalition of American plywood manufacturers who allege that a plywood certifier is certifying substandard Brazilian plywood as meeting U.S. standards because the parties indicated in a joint status report that the accreditor has suspended the certifier’s accreditation and will soon decide whether to permanently revoke it.
February 24, 2023
Parties In Water Damage Suit File Briefs On Dismissed Party’s Arguments For Remand

CHARLESTON, S.C. — In supplemental briefs filed at the court’s request, a group of homeowners who allege that their newly built homes suffer from water damage argue that the South Carolina federal court cannot consider arguments posited by a dismissed defendant on the issue of remand while the homebuilder argued the opposite.
February 22, 2023
Supreme Court Denies Former Residents’ Petition In London Tower Fire Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 21 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by former residents of a London high-rise public housing building that was destroyed by fire allegedly stoked by flammable building panels who had asked the high court to decide whether the unavailability of punitive damages in an alternative forum should weigh against dismissal of a case on forum non conveniens grounds.
February 21, 2023
Ala. High Court: Condo Owners Got Fair Arbitration Hearing On Construction Claims

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An association of condominium owners received a fair arbitration hearing despite the arbitration panel’s decision not to reopen discovery because photographs sought by the association, which allegedly showed construction defects to the condominium building’s balconies, might not have existed, the Alabama Supreme Court unanimously held Feb. 17 in affirming a trial court’s denial of the association’s motion to vacate the judgment entered on the arbitration award.
February 17, 2023
In Stucco Dispute, Texas Panel Says Homeowners Can’t Be Compelled To Arbitrate

AUSTIN, Texas — Subsequent homeowners who did not sign an arbitration agreement cannot be compelled to arbitrate by the homebuilder because their defective stucco claims do not arise from the contract signed between the original homeowners and the builder, and direct benefits estoppel does not apply, a Texas panel held in affirming a trial court’s denial of the homebuilder’s motion to compel arbitration.
February 16, 2023
Tenn. Federal Judge: Homeowner No Longer Pursuing Claims For Electrical Work

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An electrical company that performed electrical work on a defectively constructed pool is entitled to summary judgment on third-party claims for indemnity because the applicable statute of repose bars the claims and the original plaintiff-homeowner is no longer seeking damages based on the allegedly faulty electrical work, a Tennessee federal judge held in granting the electrical company’s motion for summary judgment.
February 16, 2023
Wyoming Supreme Court: Terms Of Construction Contract Are ‘Ambiguous’

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The provisions of a contract for the construction of an assisted living facility that suffered damage from water saturation in the soil near the building are “ambiguous” and capable of more than one meaning, the Wyoming Supreme Court found in reversing and remanding a trial court’s grant of summary judgment on a breach of contract claim brought by the operator of the facility against the general contractor who performed its construction.
February 15, 2023
In Chinese Drywall MDL, Federal Judge Refuses To Allow New Expert Disclosures

NEW ORLEANS — Two property owners whose buildings were allegedly affected by defectively manufactured Chinese drywall failed to show that good cause exists to file new expert disclosures nearly three years after the deadline to do so had passed, a Louisiana federal judge found in denying the property owners’ motion to file the disclosures in a multidistrict litigation.
February 14, 2023
Fla. Federal Judge Grants Summary Judgment In 15 Chinese Drywall Cases

TAMPA, Fla. — In 15 of 25 cases brought by homeowners who were allegedly affected by defective Chinese-manufactured drywall, a Florida federal judge adopted the reports of a magistrate judge who recommended granting summary judgment in favor of a drywall manufacturer on the issues of the statute of limitations and damages and denying summary judgment on the issue of the subsequent purchaser doctrine.
February 08, 2023
Delaware Judge Reduces $12.9M Jury Verdict For Negligent Construction Claims

GEORGETOWN, Del. — A jury’s verdict for $12.9 million in favor of a condominium association and condominium owners for damages caused by a builder’s negligent construction of parts of the condominium units was excessive and influenced by improper testimony regarding inflation and additional costs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a Delaware judge found in reducing the award to $8.3 million.