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Construction Law Authority / Posts tagged "statute of limitations"

New Case: Cypress Fairway v. Bergeron Construction (Statute of Repose)

Interesting opinion issued last week by the Florida's Fifth District Court of Appeal on the statute of repose.  The opinion can be found here.  It is not yet final. The Cypress Fairway Condominium was a conversion condominium.  The suit was brought by the Association "individually" and also as assignee of claims by the general contractor.  Suit was filed against parties involved in the original construction and also the conversion. Suit was filed on February 2, 2011. There is no reference to when the certificate of occupancy was issued.  Rather, the last non-settling defendant argued that the statute of repose period began when application for final payment was made on January 31, 2001, which was they argued was the completion date of construction.  The Association argued that the repose period did not begin until February 2, 2001, when final payment was actually made.  The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendant on...

2015 Florida Construction Legislation Update

The regular Florida legislative session is almost concluded.  The House adjourned on Tuesday and the Senate is in session until Friday.  A special session to address the state budget is expected but not yet set.  I previously addressed two construction related bills being considered this year: HB 87/SB418 related to construction defects, as noted here, and HB 501/SB 1158 related to shortening the statute of repose from 10 years to 7 years, as noted here. The Chapter 558 bill, HB 87, was amended to address many of the concerns raised in my prior blog post.  The amended bill passed the House on a vote of 112 to 0. The House bill was substituted for the “companion” Senate bill, SB 418, and passed 35-4.  The bill will be sent to the Governor for his consideration. The Governor will have 7 days to veto, sign or allow the bill to become law without...

HB 501 Passes Civil Justice Subcommittee

HB 501 to reduce the statute of repose in construction cases was heard by the House Civil Justice subcommittee.  There was an amendment to the bill to allow any claims that are currently over 7 years, but less than 10 years, to have until July 1, 2016, to file suit.  This “savings clause” is similar to the one used in 2006 when the statute of repose was then reduced from 15 years to 10 years.  The bill passed the subcommittee on a vote by 8-6.  For those interested in watching the hearing you can do so here beginning at the 7:18 mark.  Special recognition to Ronald Woods, P.E. of Woods Engineering and Tom Miller, P.E. of Structural Engineering and Inspections, Inc. for appearing and speaking out against the bill....

Proposed Legislation Will Hurt Owners by Shortening Timeframe to Bring Claims

In addition to the proposed legislation to substantially change Chapter 558, link here, the Legislature is considering other legislation that will materially impact owners and taxpayers.  HB501 proposes to reduce the time owners have to pursue construction defect claims from 10 after completion to 7 years after completion.  Specifically, the proposed legislation reduces the time frame within which a claim can be brought for latent defects (a defect you did not know about or had no reason to know about) in the design, planning or construction of improvements to real property from the current 10 years to 7 years.  This reduction of time to pursue claims apply to claims where the building code was violated.  Why should Florida provide less protection to owners when historically, and now again, the biggest building booms have been occurring in Florida.  Even the AIA Form Agreements, not always owner friendly, provide for a 10 year...