Indemnity provisions are common features of contracts between project owners and engineering firms tasked with design elements of the project. However, a project owner sued by a general contractor cannot simply ride the contractor’s coattails to prove the project owner’s indemnity claims, as the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts held in…
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A common issue in Architect and Engineer cases is distinguishing between what are possible alternate designs and what are repairs to defective designs. Just because one architect or engineer would have handled a design challenge differently does not mean it was originally handled incorrectly. This distinction was recently addressed in North Carolina. In Cranes Creek,…
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During the 2023 legislative session, the Alabama State Legislature passed Act #2023-477, significantly impacting architects, engineers, and other design professionals in the state. Introduced by State Senator Clyde Chambliss, this bill aims to protect clients who may not be familiar with professional liability insurance policies and their coverage. Signed into law on June 14, 2023,…
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Highlighting the importance of the statute of repose in relation to construction and design indemnity claims, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently affirmed summary judgment based on the Tennessee statute of repose in favor of a third-party defendant subcontractor. Hinman v. ValleyCrest Landscaping Development, Inc., 89 F.4th 572 (6th Cir….
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The recent decision by the Louisiana Court of Appeals in City of Ruston v. Womack & Sons Construction Group, Inc., 374 So. 3d 311 (La. App. 2 Cir. 2023) underscores the critical need for architects to meticulously draft and review contracts, contract conditions, and change orders in construction projects. The City of Ruston (the “City”)…
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In American Automobile Insurance Company v. FDH Infrastructure Services., LLC, 364 So.3d 1082 (Fla. 3d DCA 2023), The Court of Appeals of Florida, Third District (“Court of Appeals”) held all construction-based claims against design professionals are subject to a four-year statute of limitations, not the two-year statute of limitations. Tower King II was contracted to…
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Expert testimony is an essential element of any claim of professional engineering malpractice. However, Munro v. Dep’t of Transportation, 890 S.E.2d 349 (Ga. App. 2023) demonstrates that a Georgia Rule of Evidence regarding expert testimony in professional malpractice cases can make proving design malpractice very difficult in some circumstances. On November 10, 2017, twenty-four-year-old Ashley…
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In Bonilla v. Verges Rome Architects, 2023 WL 3371559 (La. App. 5th Cir. 2023), the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an architect could be liable to an injured worker for failing to address a known safety issue, despite contractual language establishing site safety as solely a contractor responsibility. The City of New…
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The Court of Appeals of Georgia, in Blevins v. PECGA, LLC, 890 S.E. 2d 109 (Ga. Ct. App. 2023), recently reversed summary judgment in favor the design engineer in a lawsuit for defective construction of a home because the homeowners raised a sufficient dispute of fact regarding whether mistakes in the engineer’s plans caused defects…
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In Southern States Chemical, Inc. v. Tampa Tank & Welding, Inc., the Supreme Court of Georgia held statutes of repose differ from statutes of limitation, due to statutes of repose being substantive in nature, and amendments to statutes of repose do not apply retroactively. 888 S.E.2d 553 (2023). The Supreme Court of Georgia’s decision is…
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