If you are a party to a construction contract which has been breached, this may interest you.
It is said that a plaintiff damaged by a defendant's conduct is entitled to be made "whole", that is, to receive a monetary award which will place him in as good a position as if he had not been harmed.
In a construction dispute, a plaintiff's claim is often measured by the cost of repairing defendant's work.
Recently, though, the Appellate Division reviewed a case where plaintiff sought to recover damages for defendant's defective work, but plaintiff would not be making any repairs.
In the case, defendant had been hired by plaintiff to construct a new home. Plaintiff alleged that defendant had breached the agreement by failing to properly install important drainage facilities. The cost of repair was estimated to exceed $700,000.
By the time of trial, however, plaintiff had sold the home, so an award to plaintiff would not be used for repairs.
Defendant claimed that, under the circumstances, plaintiff had to prove that the value of the property was diminished by the defective work to recover damages.
The trial judge permitted the jury to consider the cost of repairs in evaluating damages.
The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff for more than $700,000 and an appeal was filed.
YOU BE THE JUDGE: Is a plaintiff's damage for breach of a construction contract limited to the cost of repairs?
The Appellate Division affirmed. It held that a plaintiff has the choice to prove either the cost of repairs or the diminishment in value; both are appropriate standards to use in the assessment of damages. It was unfair to force a plaintiff to use only one of these measures. A defendant could not insist that a plaintiff prove a loss of market value of the property by reason of the defective work--that would penalize a plaintiff and reward a defendant.
The decision points out that a courtroom can bring justice and may be the only way to protect your rights. We know courtrooms; we have harnessed the power of the law in courtrooms to bring justice for our clients for decades. Please contact us to discuss how we can help you in a new lawsuit or provide a "second opinion" about your pending lawsuit. There is no obligation for the initial consultation. |
