{"id":904299,"date":"2025-04-30T15:14:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T21:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=904299"},"modified":"2025-04-30T15:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T21:14:17","slug":"statute-of-repose-protecting-pantheons-builders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/statute-of-repose-protecting-pantheons-builders\/","title":{"rendered":"Statutes of Repose: Protecting the Pantheon\u2019s Builders After Nearly 2,000 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>John Mark Goodman | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/2025\/04\/statutes-of-repose-protecting-the-pantheons-builders-after-nearly-2000-years\/?utm_source=Bradley+Arant+Boult+Cummings+LLP+-+BuildSmart&amp;utm_campaign=c6f0382bd3-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_b504caf31b-c6f0382bd3-78863422\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">BuildSmart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though construction cases often involve colorful facts, legal opinions are often quite boring. When a judge writes a colorful opinion about an otherwise boring case, we tip our hat.\u00a0This week we tip our hat to Judge Brandon Harrison and colleagues on the Arkansas Court of Appeals for their opinion in\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2025\/04\/Thompson_Thrift_Constr.__Inc._v._Modus_Studio__PLLC.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Thompson Thrift Construction v. Modus Studio et al<\/a><\/em>., 2025 Ark. App. 193 (2025), a construction defect case arising out of a student housing project in Fayetteville.\u00a0The issue was whether the Arkansas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/statute-of-repose-contract-claims\/\">statute of repose<\/a> \u2013 which cuts off a builder\u2019s liability for defects after a certain number of years have passed following substantial completion \u2013 defeated the plaintiff\u2019s claim.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is how Judge Harrison\u2019s opinion introduced this otherwise boring issue of statutory interpretation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The Pantheon in Rome has stood for more than 1,900 years. If it collapsed tomorrow, the claim-accrual and statute-of-limitations principles that apply in Arkansas to ordinary negligence claims would give an injured person three additional years to sue those who were alleged to have negligently designed or constructed it. &nbsp;That\u2019s a long time to stay on the legal hook. So in the 1960s, like legislatures in a number of other states, the Arkansas General Assembly changed the accrual and limitations principles that apply to tort or contract claims for damages \u201ccaused by any deficiency in the design, planning, supervision, or observation of construction or the construction and repairing of any improvement to real property\u201d against a person \u201cperforming or furnishing the design, planning, supervision, or observation of construction or the construction and repair of the improvement.\u201d Ark. Code Ann. \u00a7 16-56-112.&nbsp; With a few express exceptions, for those architectural or construction-type claims \u201cno action \u2026 shall be brought\u201d more than five years from the date of substantial completion of the improvement, even if the limitation period for that kind of claim has not run\u2014and even if no claim exists yet because no damage or injury has yet occurred.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>As the above-quoted passage indicates, other states passed similar\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sdvlaw.com\/surveys\/statutes-of-limitations-and-repose-for-construction-related-claims\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">statutes of repose<\/a>\u00a0around the same time.\u00a0Today, 48 states and the District of Columbia have one.\u00a0The wording of those statutes varies from state to state.\u00a0For example, in many states the period of repose begins to run upon substantial completion. In others, the period begins with final completion or the acts or omissions at issue.\u00a0Many states allow an extension if the injury occurs in the final year of the repose period, while others do not. Some states apply different periods depending on the nature of the injury (property damages v. personal injury) or the identity of the plaintiff (private v. government).\u00a0All are subject to change at any time at whim of the state legislature.\u00a0None should be confused with statutes of\u00a0<em>limitation<\/em>, which have a similar effect but generally begin to run only when the injury or damage occurs (which in the Pantheon example may not\u00a0occur for some 1,900 years after construction).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The only two states without a statute of repose are New York and Vermont.&nbsp;Potential claimants against the contractors and architects of ancient Rome would do well to start there.&nbsp;Just know that Judge Harrison and his colleagues on the Arkansas Court of Appeals \u201cwould take the defense side of that case\u201d&nbsp;(<em>Thompson<\/em>, 2025 Ark. App. 193 n. 1).<\/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\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Mark Goodman | BuildSmart Even though construction cases often involve colorful facts, legal opinions are often quite boring. When a judge writes a colorful opinion about an otherwise boring case, we tip our hat.\u00a0This week we tip our hat to Judge Brandon Harrison and colleagues on the Arkansas Court of Appeals for their opinion&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/statute-of-repose-protecting-pantheons-builders\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Statutes of Repose: Protecting the Pantheon\u2019s Builders After Nearly 2,000 Years<\/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":[10707],"tags":[9895,268],"class_list":["post-904299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-statute-of-repose","tag-advise-consult","tag-statute-of-repose","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>Statutes of Repose: Protecting the Pantheon\u2019s Builders After Nearly 2,000 Years - Advise &amp; 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