{"id":901504,"date":"2023-08-16T10:51:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T16:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=901504"},"modified":"2023-08-16T10:51:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T16:51:03","slug":"staute-of-repose-appeals-divisions-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/staute-of-repose-appeals-divisions-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Court of Appeals Divisions Clash Over Interpretations of the Statute of Repose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Masaki Yamada and Ryanne Mathisen | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acslawyers.com\/claims\/washington-court-of-appeals-divisions-clash-over-interpretations-of-the-statute-of-repose-by-masaki-yamada-ryanne-mathisen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ahlers Cressman &amp; Sleight<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/statute-of-repose-florida-start-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">construction statute of repose<\/a> under RCW 4.16.310 bars any claims arising from construction, design, or engineering of any improvement upon real property that has not accrued within six years after substantial completion or termination of services, whichever is later, even if the injury has not yet occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On June 20, 2023, Division One of the Washington Court of Appeals (Div. I) published its decision in\u00a0<em>Welch v. Air &amp; Liquid Systems<\/em>\u00a0severely criticizing and rejecting the statute of repose reasoning contained in\u00a0<em>Maxwell v. Atlantic Richfield Co.<\/em>, 15 Wn. App. 2d 569, 476 P.3d 645 (2020), a Division Two (Div. II) opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than a mere difference of opinion, the courts in&nbsp;<em>Welch&nbsp;<\/em>and&nbsp;<em>Maxwell&nbsp;<\/em>reached different results as to whether claims asserted against Brand Insulations, Inc. were barred by the statute of repose despite involving (i) the same procedural posture, both appeals from summary judgment decisions; (ii) the same facility, Atlantic Richfield Corporation\u2019s (ARCO) petroleum refinery at Cherry Point in Ferndale; (iii) the same activity of installation of asbestos laden insulation on pipes; (iv) the same type of injury, mesothelioma; and (v) application of the same test set forth in&nbsp;<em>Condit v. Lewis Refrigeration Co.<\/em>, 101 Wn.2d 106, 676 P.2d 466 (1984).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the issues in&nbsp;<em>Welch&nbsp;<\/em>and&nbsp;<em>Maxwell&nbsp;<\/em>was whether Brand\u2019s installation activities constituted an \u201cimprovement upon real property\u201d\u2014one of two requirements for the construction statute of repose to apply. Both divisions cited the same rule from&nbsp;<em>Condit<\/em>, that in order for an activity to constitute an \u201cimprovement upon real property\u201d that activity must be for construction of structural aspects of a building or integral systems that are a normal part of that kind of improvement required for the structure to function as intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, the&nbsp;<em>Maxwell&nbsp;<\/em>court broadly interpreted and restated the rule from&nbsp;<em>Condit&nbsp;<\/em>as requiring that a construction company be \u201cinvolved\u201d in construction of structural improvements or integral system(s). By contrast, in 2023, the&nbsp;<em>Welch&nbsp;<\/em>court adopted a much narrower interpretation, reasoning that for the construction statute of repose to apply, a contractor must show&nbsp;<em>all&nbsp;<\/em>their work relating to the building contributed to the construction of either a structural improvement or integral system, which is a much higher standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As to Div. II, applying its broad \u201cinvolved\u201d interpretation, the&nbsp;<em>Maxwell&nbsp;<\/em>court held the lower court\u2019s application of the statute of repose on summary judgment in favor of the contractors was appropriate as the contractors at issue had met the low bar of showing their \u201cinvolvement\u201d in the original structural construction of the ARCO plant, thus meeting the second element of the construction statute of repose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As to Div. I, applying its narrower interpretation, the&nbsp;<em>Welch&nbsp;<\/em>court held summary judgment to be inappropriate, reasoning that the contractors at issue had not met their evidentiary burden of demonstrating that&nbsp;<em>all&nbsp;<\/em>of their installation activities contributed to construction of an ARCO plant structural improvement or integral system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the recent&nbsp;<em>Welch&nbsp;<\/em>opinion is timely appealed, the Washington State Supreme Court will have the option to take up review. However, while the interpretation conflict between Div. I and Div. II persists, which interpretation should apply to a particular case will likely be a contentious matter in cases involving the construction statute of repose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Commentary: The construction statute of repose under RCW 4.16.310 offers certain contractors and certain building owners a date certain as to when the risk of many unforeseen claims would expire. Until the interpretation conflict between Division I and Division II is resolved, a useful risk management practice is to assume the narrower interpretation will apply, or put another way, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. The conflict in interpretation also presents a risk for those who contract with a contractor that performs some work that did not \u201ccontribute to the construction\u201d of an improvement and relies on the statute of repose. It is unclear whether the Welch court intended or anticipated the consequence of contractors potentially using this decision as a tool to circumvent the statute of repose, which in most instances provide for a longer period of time for suit to be commenced than Washington\u2019s statute of limitations.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Masaki Yamada and Ryanne Mathisen | Ahlers Cressman &amp; Sleight The construction statute of repose under RCW 4.16.310 bars any claims arising from construction, design, or engineering of any improvement upon real property that has not accrued within six years after substantial completion or termination of services, whichever is later, even if the injury has&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/staute-of-repose-appeals-divisions-clash\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Washington Court of Appeals Divisions Clash Over Interpretations of the Statute of Repose<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10707],"tags":[9895,11390,268,306],"class_list":["post-901504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-statute-of-repose","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-statute-of-repose","tag-statute-of-repose","tag-washington","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>Washington Court of Appeals Divisions Clash Over Interpretations of the Statute of Repose - Advise &amp; 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