Consumers Construction Defect Action

In an action against a construction professional, section 2 of the bill requires the construction professional to provide the claimant or the claimant's legal representative with:

• Copies of all plans, specifications, soils reports, and available engineering calculations;
• Any maintenance and preventive maintenance recommendations;
• The name, last-known address, and scope of work of each construction professional that performed work or services; and
• Copies of all insurance policies held by the construction professional during the appropriate time.

The construction professional may charge reasonable copying costs for the documents. Failure to provide the identifying information of the other construction professionals bars the construction professional from designating the unidentified construction professionals as nonparties at fault in any subsequent action.

Section 3 requires a court to award prejudgement interest of 8% to a prevailing claimant who alleges defects in a residential property construction. Section 5 voids a provision in a real estate contract that:

• Prohibits group lawsuits against a construction professional; or
• Imposes different or additional requirements than the statutory requirements to bring or join a legal action.

Section 6 changes the time when a claim of relief arises, for the purposes of the statute of limitation and repose, to include both the discovery of the physical manifestation and the cause of the defect.

Current law authorizes, subject to the requirements of the common interest community's (community) declarations, a community to engage in certain actions, such as instituting, defending, or intervening in litigation or administrative proceedings on matters affecting the community. Section 7 exempts an association's authority to institute, defend, or intervene in litigation proceedings concerning construction defects from the requirement that the action be subject to the declaration. Section 8 requires the department of regulatory agencies to include in its "SMART Act" report information concerning construction liability insurance and the basis for rates.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)