Construction Defects
Class Analysis Not Needed in Construction-Defect Case
Amaris Elliott-Engel | The National Law Journal
October 21, 2014
The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled it neither arbitrary nor capricious for a trial judge to decline to perform a class-action analysis in a lawsuit filed by a homeowners’ association against a general contactor over alleged defects.
Justice Michael Douglas, writing for the court, said that Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 23 does not require a class-action analysis when the homeowners association alleges construction defects on behalf of unit owners.
“The district court was not required to conduct that analysis at this point in the litigation because nothing in the record indicates that the association sought to proceed as a class action,” Douglas said.
The Regent at Town Centre Homeowners’ Association has sued the contractor that built its built 274 residential units, 10 commercial units and an “office and recreation building.” The association alleges Oxbow Construction LLC caused defects in the buildings’ exterior walls, exterior stairs, exterior decks, interior walls and ceilings and sloped roofs.
The general contractor argued that Nevada’s construction defect law—under which plaintiffs can sue over defects in the common areas of buildings—does not apply because the development’s units were no longer new residences once they were rented as apartments.
But the justices said that the association can pursue its lawsuit for construction defects in common elements owned by multiple units as long as one unit is a new residence.
The justices also upheld another of the lower court’s holdings. Units occupied before their original sale can’t be classified as new and can’t independently qualify for remedies under Nevada’s construction defect law, Douglas said.
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SOURCE: www.nationallawjournal.com