What You Need to Know About Construction Defect Litigation

 Posted on November 15, 2015 in Construction Defect Litigation

Few things are more frustrating than finding that your home or building was built with some type of defect. These defects may not be discovered for years down the road after any warranties have long expired. Sometimes even your commercial general liability (CGL) insurance will not help you recoup the costs to fix the construction defect.

Why Your Insurance May Not Cover You for Construction Defects

The way Illinois courts have interpreted CGL coverage issues differs significantly from many other states. Most CGL insurance policies state that coverage does not kick in until there has been an occurrence. Illinois courts have interpreted occurrence to exclude defects introduced during the construction process because those acts were intentional and not accidental as the case with other types of covered occurrences.

This leaves many owners of defective buildings unable to collect from their CGL policies for the defects. Sometimes their only option is to sue the general contractor or subcontractor.

Issues With Construction Defect Claims

Construction defect litigation is complicated. Each contract must be carefully reviewed. Some contracts between a builder and the owner of the property include a list of specifications or make reference to a model home. These may become part of the contract and the builder can be held liable if the delivered building deviates from the contract.

In other cases, the owner signs away much of their rights to pursue the builder for defects and are left with a general warranty that typically only gives the owner a year to pursue limited damages against the builder. Many defects are so-called latent defects and are not discovered for several years after the initial construction.

Illinois law does provide homeowners with an implied warranty of habitability. This warranty is difficult to sign away. The implied warranty of habitability states that purchasers of new homes who have no other options to pursue claims against the builder can sue for damages if the home has defects that interfere with the buyer's expectations that the home would be reasonably suited for its intended use. You have up to ten years from the date of the construction to bring a claim under the implied warranty of habitability.

If you have questions or concerns about construction defects in your home or commercial building, you need to speak with an experienced Naperville construction defects lawyer as soon as possible. Call Lindell & Tessitore, P.C. at 630-778-3818 today to schedule an appointment. You may only have a short time to make your construction defects claims.

Sources:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=073500050K13-214 https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3594952419670749193&q=661+n.e.2d+451&hl=en&as_sdt=400006 http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2017&ChapterID=56