Possible major changes in Florida construction litigation.

Senate Bill 736 proposes drastic changes to Florida Statute Sections 95.11 and 558.004, which, if enacted, will greatly impact construction litigation in Florida. The bill proposes that latent defects be removed from consideration when applying the statute of limitations under Section 95.11(3)(c). The impact is that all construction defect claims would then run from the date of the certificate of occupancy, abandonment, completion or termination, whether or not the defect was known or obvious. In doing so, this bill also proposes disposing of the statute of repose as moot. 

Further, as it relates to Section 558.004, the bill proposes to add a new subsection (8), which essentially removes a claimant’s right to recover attorneys fees if they reject a settlement offer at the 558 stage that proposed to remedy issues at no cost to them, unless they can show in a later action that additional repairs beyond those offered were necessary. However, this would not impact any claim for attorneys fees based on contract. 

The Senate Bill also seeks to add the requirement of the court to appoint an engineer, contractor, building code inspector, or other experienced expert to analyze the claimed construction defects and issue a report thereon, unless the parties object. Further, the cost of the appointed expert would be borne by the parties.
 

^{Case Law Alerts, 1st Quarter, January 2022 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2022 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}