{"id":893323,"date":"2017-12-06T10:17:36","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T17:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=893323"},"modified":"2017-12-06T10:17:36","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T17:17:36","slug":"general-contractors-professional-malpracticenegligence-claim-design-professional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/general-contractors-professional-malpracticenegligence-claim-design-professional\/","title":{"rendered":"General Contractor&#8217;s Professional Malpractice \/ Negligence Claim Against Design Professional"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>David Adelstein | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.floridaconstructionlegalupdates.com\/general-contractors-professional-malpractice-negligence-claim-against-design-professional\/\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Construction Legal Updates<\/a> | November 23, 2017<\/p>\n<p>A recent case supports a\u00a0<strong>professional malpractice (negligence)\u00a0<\/strong>claim\u00a0by a general contractor against a design professional\u00a0by reversing a trial court\u2019s entry of summary judgment in favor of the design professional and finding a\u00a0question of fact\u00a0remained as to an architect\u2019s role in the renovation of a public construction project.\u00a0 By the appellate court finding that a question of fact remained, the appellate court was finding that it was a triable issue, which is exactly what the general contractor wanted in this case. \u00a0Getting this issue and the facts to the jury is the leverage the general contractor presumably wanted.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<i>Perez-Gurri Corp. v. Mcleod<\/i>, 42 Fla. L. Weekly D2487c (Fla. 3d DCA 2017), a general contractor was hired by Miami to renovate a public project.\u00a0 Miami\u2019s prime consultant subcontracted with an architectural firm to prepare the design documents for the renovation.\u00a0 The construction of the project was delayed and the general contractor filed suit against the architectural firm and other design professionals for professional negligence.\u00a0\u00a0The general contractor\u2019s theory was that the design professional\u2019s professional negligence delayed construction thereby causing the general contractor to incur increased costs (such as extended general conditions).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Architectural Role or Services<\/h1>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<p>The architect claimed it played no role in the project.\u00a0 It is uncertain from the opinion whether the architect was claiming it literally played no role in the project or whether its position was that its role was so limited that a\u00a0duty was not owed\u00a0to the general contractor.\u00a0 Either way, the court was focused on the role the architect played in the renovation of the project and held a\u00a0question of fact remained\u00a0as to the services or role the architect played in the construction of the project.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>This\u00a0is a pretty loose standard because it presumably allows the jury to determine (i) whether the architect rendered services or performed a\u00a0role\u00a0on the project and, if so, (ii) whether the role or services caused a delay in the construction of the project<\/strong>.\u00a0 The reason this standard appears loose is because there isn\u2019t any discussion as to the type of professional services or role that the architect must play for a duty to be extended to the general contractor.\u00a0 (For there to be a professional negligence claim against the architect, the architect must be deemed to owe a duty to the general contractor with respect to the services or role it is performing.)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>No-Damage-For-Delay Provision<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This case also had a discussion regarding the<strong>\u00a0no-damage-for-delay provision<\/strong>\u00a0in the general contractor\u2019s contract with the City.\u00a0 The trial court held that the architect was protected by this provision.\u00a0 (A no-damage-for-delay provision provides that a contractor\u2019s exclusive remedy for delay is an extension of time, and it is not entitled to damages.)\u00a0<strong>The appellate court reversed maintaining nothing in the no-damage-for-delay provision extended to the architect<\/strong>.\u00a0 And, the contract further provided there are no third party beneficiaries to the contract.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Considerations<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This recent opinion leads to a few important points.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First, as a general contractor, you ideally do\u00a0not\u00a0want to extend a no-damage-for-delay provision to anyone but the owner that hires you. From an owner\u2019s perspective, if you want the no-damage-for-delay provision to benefit your consultants, you want to ensure that protection is clearly articulated in the no-damage-for-delay provision with a carve-out in the provision that references there are no third party beneficiaries.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Second, no-damage-for-delay provisions are not absolute, meaning there are\u00a0exceptions to a no-damage-for-delay provision.\u00a0 There was no discussion as to the applicability of those exceptions here.\u00a0 Perhaps that is because the facts did not warrant the applicability of an exception or there was no need to go into such discussion since the no-damage-for-delay provision did not extend to the architect, or any design professional for that matter.\u00a0 But, the applicability of an exception could also raise a question of fact.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Third, and mentioned above, there is no discussion as to the role or services the architect must perform for a duty to be extended to the general contractor. \u00a0Thus, even if the architect played a role or performed services, the case does not go into detail as to whether such role or services would even rise up to a level of the architect owing a duty to the general contractor. \u00a0This is important since the issue of duty is typically a question of law for the court to decide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Adelstein | Florida Construction Legal Updates | November 23, 2017 A recent case supports a\u00a0professional malpractice (negligence)\u00a0claim\u00a0by a general contractor against a design professional\u00a0by reversing a trial court\u2019s entry of summary judgment in favor of the design professional and finding a\u00a0question of fact\u00a0remained as to an architect\u2019s role in the renovation of a public&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/general-contractors-professional-malpracticenegligence-claim-design-professional\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">General Contractor&#8217;s Professional Malpractice \/ Negligence Claim Against Design Professional<\/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":[9009,3],"tags":[9895,118,344,11,777,10314],"class_list":["post-893323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-design-professionals","category-insurance-claims","tag-advise-consult","tag-architect","tag-design-professional","tag-insurance-claim","tag-no-damage-for-delay","tag-professional-malpractice","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>General Contractor&#039;s Professional Malpractice \/ Negligence Claim Against Design Professional - Advise &amp; 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