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Construction Law Authority / Posts tagged "defect" (Page 2)

SB 1196 Passes

March 9, 2012
Sanjay Kurian
Legislation

Unfortunately SB 1196 passed the Senate yesterday. The next step for the bill will be the governor's desk. The only way the bill does not become law at this point is if the governor vetoes it. If he signs it or merely does nothing the bill becomes law and will take effect, by its terms, on July 1, 2012. The negative impact of this legislation will be substantial for Florida homeowner's. However, it is fairly certain that there will be challenges to the legislation. How effective the challenges will be remains to be seen. What impact, if any, the legislation has on the Maronda case pending before the Florida Supreme Court will also be interesting....

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SB 1196 moving forward

March 6, 2012
Sanjay Kurian
Legislation

As noted previously, there are a couple of bills (HB 1013 and SB 1196) pending before the Florida legislature involving HOA warranties which would be devastating for HOAs with common area defects. These bills prohibit implied warranties of fitness and merchantability from applying to streets, roads, sidewalks, drainage areas, utilities, or any other improvements that are not located on or under the lot on which a new home is constructed. In short, the bills will result in homeowners being stuck with shoddy common areas for which they have no recourse. The House version of the bill (HB 1013) has already passed the House of Representatives. The Senate version (SB 1196) had been “stuck” in the Budget Committee. If SB 1196 had remained in Budget, it would have died in committee. However, yesterday SB 1196 was removed from Budget and could be heard by the full Senate this week. Therefore, its VERY IMPORTANT that...

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Myths about Common Law Implied Warranties and the effect of the anti-Maronda Legislation

February 2, 2012
Sanjay Kurian
Legislation

  On Tuesday I had the pleasure of being in Tallahassee and testifying at the House Civil Justice Subcommittee meeting against HB 1013 (the House equivalent of SB 1196). The Senate Judiciary Committee meeting scheduled for that afternoon was canceled and has been rolled over to next week.  Although my opinion on this legislation can be found here, here, here, here and here, I was interested in hearing the remarks of the Bill's sponsor and others in support of the bill.  After hearing those comments and having subsequent discussions with individuals supporting the bill it became clear to me that there existed several myths about common law implied warranties and the need for legislative action which needed to be addressed. Myth 1: The legislature must act immediately. This push by certain legislators to pass this bill by the end of this session ignores that the Supreme Court heard oral argument on the Lakeview case in the first week of December.  The issue...

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SB 1196 (Anti-Maronda) heading to Senate Judiciary Committee

January 27, 2012
Sanjay Kurian
Legislation

With the legislative session in full swing it appears that some legislators are pushing SB 1196 and its companion HB 1013, and are determined to wipe out common law implied warranties relating to residential construction. SB 1196 is sponsored by Senator Michael S. "Mike" Bennett (R), and HB 1013 is sponsored by Representative Frank Artiles(R). These bills are an overreaction to the recent opinion in Lakeview Reserve Homeowners v. Maronda Homes, Inc., 48 So. 3d 902 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010). As noted previously, and also here, here and here, these bills: -       -Would negatively impact homeowner associations, condominiums, co-ops, timeshares and mobile home parks as the term “home” is an all-encompassing term. -       -Ignores the fact that most new residential dwellings are built in planned communities -       -Expose homeowners to liability to repair defective construction and design for which they have no recourse -       -Homeowners who fail to pay their assessments for these repairs can have their homes foreclosed upon -       -Will result in...

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SB 1196 amendment

January 25, 2012
Sanjay Kurian
Legislation

As noted previously, SB 1196 (regarding common area common law implied warranties) was considered by the Community Affairs committee of the Florida Senate.  The committee passed the committee substitute bill which can be read here.  The next step will be consideration by the senate judiciary committee but that hearing has not yet been set.  The amendment to the bill does 2 primary things.  First, it removes the definition of habitability that was previously included. Given that the original definition limited habitability to situations where residents could not live free from structural defects likely to cause significant harm to the health and safety or persons, this merely removes a definition not found anywhere else in the law. Second, the amendment purports to not alter or limit causes of action which may exist in contract, tort or statute.  This is completely illusory. Most, if not all, purchase contracts disclaim any and all warranties and causes of action other than statutory ones which...

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Learning From Others’ Lessons, That They Learned The Hard Way.

January 23, 2012
Ryan Carpenter
Cases, Construction Defects, Litigation

If an owner fails to promptly investigate symptoms of a construction defect, the owner not only runs the risk of a small problem becoming bigger and more expensive to fix, but also runs the risk of losing his or her right to hold the responsible entities accountable. Owners, like the Hochbergs, have lost claims by failing to promptly investigate defects and timely sue the responsbile entities. Others can learn from their experiences without suffering the consequences....

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Common Law Implied Warranties and SB 1196

January 19, 2012
Sanjay Kurian
Cases, Legislation

With the legislative session in full swing it appears that  SB 1196 and its companion HB 1013, are being pushed to wipe out common law implied warranties relating to residential construction.  These bills are reaction to the recent opinion in Lakeview Reserve Homeowners v. Maronda Homes, Inc., 48 So. 3d 902 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010). As noted previously, these bills: -        - would negatively impact homeowner associations, condominiums, co-ops, timeshares and mobile home parks as the term “home” is an all-encompassing term. -        - Ignores the fact that most new residential dwellings are built in planned communities -        -  Expose homeowners to liability to repair defective construction and design for which they have no recourse -       - Homeowners who fail to pay their assessments for these repairs can have their homes foreclosed upon -       - Will result in homeowners being stuck with shoddy construction with no remedy SB 1196 has been noticed for public hearing before the community affairs committee on Monday January 23, 2012, at 10am,...

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Common Law Implied Warranties and Strict Liability

January 4, 2012
Sanjay Kurian
Cases, Legislation

As the new year begins, and the legislative session draws near, the issue of common law implied warranties and the recent opinion in Lakeview Reserve Homeowners v. Maronda Homes, Inc., 48 So. 3d 902 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010), remain on the legislative agenda. Concerns are being raised as to whether Maronda creates a cause of action for “strict liability” against developers with regard to construction defect claims for improvements to subdivision common areas. For the reasons below it is my opinion that it does not and that my prior analysis as to why SB 1196 is a bad bill for homeowners remains accurate.    Under the existing case law, an implied warranty of fitness and merchantability: - extends to the purchase of new homes, Gable v. Silver, 258 So. 2d 11 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972);  - means that a home will be constructed in accordance with the specifications contained in the building plans filed with and approved by...

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