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

Mealey's Construction Defects

March 28, 2023
Evidence Excluded, Summary Judgment And Reconsideration Denied In 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 before also denying the owners’ motion for reconsideration of an order concerning additional expert disclosure.
March 27, 2023
Texas Panel: Mold Claims Must Be Arbitrated On Home Purchase Contract’s Terms

HOUSTON — A trial court erred by ordering the second owners of a home and a homebuilder to arbitrate defective construction claims before an alternative arbitrator because the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) requires courts to enforce arbitration agreements based on their original terms, a Texas panel found in reversing the trial court’s decision.
March 24, 2023
Va. Panel Affirms Award Against Developer Who Built Defective Retaining Wall

RICHMOND, Va. — A trial court award of approximately $360,000 against a developer who was sued by the homeowners association of a subdivision he developed was affirmed by a Virginia Court of Appeals panel, which determined, based on the testimony and evidence presented at trial, that the developer defectively constructed a retaining wall that separated the subdivision from a nearby grocery store.
March 24, 2023
Pa. Federal Judge Grants Homeowners Attorney Fees And Costs In Construction Suit

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge awarded two homeowners attorney fees, expert fees and costs under the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL) from a builder who was found by a jury to have engaged in fraudulent or deceptive conduct while defectively constructing their home.
March 23, 2023
La. Federal Judge Dismisses Property Damage Claims Against Roofing Manufacturer

NEW ORLEANS — A property owner and an operator of a nursing home failed to allege that a roofing manufacturer was vicariously liable for negligence and failed to state a claim for products liability, a Louisiana federal judge found in granting the manufacturer’s motion to dismiss the claims that alleged that the manufacturers’ products caused damage to the nursing home and surrounding property during Hurricane Ida.
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.