Changes to Construction Defect Claims Process Being Considered by Florida Legislature

During the 2015 legislative session in Tallahassee, the Florida construction industry will be keeping a close eye on the outcome for House of Representatives Bill 87 and the corresponding bill in the Senate that is expected to be filed. The bill was developed with the assistance of the South Florida Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, and it seeks to amend Chapter 558, Florida Statutes, to address several issues with the current construction defect notice process in order to help contractors to address these claims and avoid litigation.

The proposed changes include:

• Revising the legislative intent to address the involvement of insurers.
• Revising the legislative intent to indicate that Chapter 558 is intended to provide an opportunity to resolve construction defect claims through confidential settlement negotiations.
• Revising the definition of the term “Completion of a building or improvement” to include issuance of a temporary certificate of occupancy.
• Providing additional requirements for a notice of claim, including the identification of specific location(s) of each alleged construction defect, as well as the specific provisions of the building code, project plans, project drawings, project specifications, or other documentation, information, or authority that serve as the basis of the claim for each alleged construction defect.
• Revising the requirements for a response to a notice of claim to address monetary settlement offers.
• Providing that, if a claimant proceeds with an action that includes any claim previously resolved in accordance with Chapter 558, the associated portion of that action shall be deemed frivolous.
• Providing for sanctions for such frivolous claims, including attorneys’ fees.
• Revising the provisions relating to production of records requested under Chapter 558, to include a claimant’s maintenance records and other documents related to the discovery, investigation, causation, and extent of the alleged defects identified in the notice of claim and any resulting damages.
• Providing for sanctions for construction defect claims that were solely the fault of a claimant or its agents, including costs of investigation, testing, and attorneys’ fees.

The bill also includes additional amendments to conform other statutory sections to the revised definition of the term “Completion of a building or improvement.” It is now before the House’s Civil Justice Subcommittee, and it will also be referred to the Business & Professions Subcommittee and the Judiciary Committee.

Our firm’s other construction law attorneys and I will continue to monitor the status and outcome for this legislation in the coming months, and we will write about this and other important legal and business issues for the Florida construction industry in this blog. We encourage industry followers to submit their email address in the subscription box at the top right of the blog in order to automatically receive all of our future articles.