{"id":2110,"date":"2013-09-11T06:16:35","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T12:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=2110"},"modified":"2013-09-09T15:17:13","modified_gmt":"2013-09-09T21:17:13","slug":"construction-defect-litigation-right-to-repair-act-sb-800-does-not-eliminate-common-law-remedies-for-actual-damage-to-residences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-defect-litigation-right-to-repair-act-sb-800-does-not-eliminate-common-law-remedies-for-actual-damage-to-residences\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction Defect Litigation: Right to Repair Act (SB 800) Does Not Eliminate Common Law Remedies for Actual Damage to Residences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mark Ellinghouse and Jon E. Goetz &#8211; September 5, 2013<\/p>\n<p>California\u2019s Right to Repair Act (also known as SB 800) provides court remedies for a homeowner when construction defects diminish the economic value of a home, even though no personal injuries or actual property damage have occurred.\u00a0 A recent California appellate court decision confirmed that the remedies provided by the Right to Repair Act do not preclude the application of other legal rights and remedies when a residence sustains actual damage due to construction defects.<\/p>\n<p>In Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Brookfield Crystal Cove LLC (&#8212; Cal.Rptr.3d &#8212;-, Cal.App. 4 Dist., August 28, 2013), Eric Hart (\u201cHart\u201d) purchased a newly-built home from Brookfield Crystal Cove LLC (\u201cBrookfield\u201d).\u00a0 After a pipe in the home\u2019s fire sprinkler system burst, Hart moved out while Brookfield repaired the damage.\u00a0 During this time, Hart&#8217;s homeowner\u2019s insurer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (\u201cLiberty Mutual\u201d), paid Hart&#8217;s relocation expenses.\u00a0 Liberty Mutual sought to recover the expenses in court from Brookfield, but the trial court rejected Liberty Mutual\u2019s lawsuit for not meeting the time limits of the Right to Repair Act.<\/p>\n<p>In reversing the trial court decision, the Fourth District Court of Appeal observed that the history of the Right to Repair Act indicated that the Legislature did not intend for the Act to replace common law remedies for actual damage caused by construction defects.\u00a0 Instead, the Legislature enacted the Act to allow homeowners to correct construction defects before the defects caused actual harm or damage.\u00a0 The 2002 enactment was specifically aimed at overturning the holding of a state Supreme Court case that held a homeowner could not sue for residential construction defects that did not cause actual property damage, even though the defects caused a drop in the home\u2019s value.\u00a0 (Aas v. Superior Court (2000) 24 Cal.4th 627).\u00a0 The court of appeal stated that nothing in the Act\u2019s legislative history showed legislative intent to limit claims for actual property damage.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the appellate court also noted that the language of the Act itself indicated that claims related to actual damage are not covered by the Right to Repair Act.\u00a0 For example, one provision of the Act allows homeowners to bring claims only by proving that the home\u2019s construction does not meet an applicable standard, without proving causation and damages.\u00a0 The court pointed out that such a provision \u201cmakes perfect sense\u201d for claims made before construction defects cause any physical damage.\u00a0 However the provision does not support the idea that the Legislature meant to suspend the requirement to prove causation and damages when a construction defect has caused actual, physical damage.\u00a0 Two other provisions of the Act specifically refer to legal remedies and causes of action for construction defects outside of the Act, which the court found established that the Act itself acknowledges that it is \u201cnot the exclusive means for seeking redress when construction defects cause actual property damage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The appellate court rejected Brookfield\u2019s argument that the notification timeframes provided in the Act applied to all construction defect claims, not only those that have not yet caused actual damage.\u00a0 The court noted that in the event \u201cof an actual catastrophic loss, the detailed timeframes would be unnecessary and nonsensical.\u201d\u00a0 Moreover, such a ruling would \u201ceffectively extinguish the subrogation rights of all homeowners&#8217; insurers who promptly cover their insureds&#8217; catastrophic losses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jdsupra.com\/legalnews\/construction-defect-litigation-right-to-94140\/?utm_source=LU_Emails\">Construction Defect Litigation: Right to Repair Act (SB 800) Does Not Eliminate Common Law Remedies for Actual Damage to Residences | Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann &amp; Girard &#8211; JDSupra<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mark Ellinghouse and Jon E. Goetz &#8211; September 5, 2013 California\u2019s Right to Repair Act (also known as SB 800) provides court remedies for a homeowner when construction defects diminish the economic value of a home, even though no personal injuries or actual property damage have occurred.\u00a0 A recent California appellate court decision confirmed that&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-defect-litigation-right-to-repair-act-sb-800-does-not-eliminate-common-law-remedies-for-actual-damage-to-residences\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Construction Defect Litigation: Right to Repair Act (SB 800) Does Not Eliminate Common Law Remedies for Actual Damage to Residences<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,4,172],"tags":[229,19,434],"class_list":["post-2110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","category-construction-defects","category-construction-law-2","tag-construction-defect-litigation","tag-construction-defects-2","tag-right-to-repair-act","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Construction Defect Litigation: Right to Repair Act (SB 800) Does Not Eliminate Common Law Remedies for Actual Damage to Residences - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-defect-litigation-right-to-repair-act-sb-800-does-not-eliminate-common-law-remedies-for-actual-damage-to-residences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Construction Defect Litigation: Right to Repair Act (SB 800) Does Not Eliminate Common Law Remedies for Actual Damage to Residences - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mark Ellinghouse and Jon E. 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