In 2003, The Colorado Legislature Amended and Extended the Original 2001 CDARA I

The question now begs, did they go too far? The law maker’s intent was to decrease construction defect litigation and reduce the cost of insuring construction professionals. Property owners were further restricted on damages available against builders and subcontractors defects and false, misleading and deceptive business practices under Colorado’s Consumer Protection Act.

CDARA I http://www.vsss.com/CM/Articles/Articles14.asp

Of course, the intent and the results can hopefully be found somewhere in the middle. What do we pay our state lawmaker’s for if not too keep tinkering with our laws? The builder’s loved this expanded legislation. With every contract to purchase, they now pushed a waiver of the buyer’s right to sue in front of them and they signed away the rights they previously had held. Friday, March 23, the House Judiciary Committee on a 7 to 10 vote rescinded the builder’s right to obtain a waiver prohibiting the buyer to sue for poor workmanship and defects. It appears that this vote was pretty much along party lines.

The Republicans usually have this immense distaste for trial lawyers. I agree, there is no place in business for these frivolous lawsuits and immense punitive damages. On the other hand, the builders and subcontractors must in some way be held accountable for their negligence. The balance must be found somewhere in the middle. Referenced was an entire subdivision where, “within one year, siding was falling off every home. It’s visible, it’s a massive eyesore, these properties were only a year old, they have no rights. Now they can’t sell them, they can’t refinance them, they’ve lost everything on this,” Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, said.

If this subdivision is the one that I am aware of, a private conversation with one major homebuilder’s client care manager fully substantiates this claim. The subdivision, in the very southeast quadrant of Aurora was built on a landfill of shifting soil. In the case I am aware of, the builder is supposedly trying to make things right with the home buyers.

You have to wonder, where were the soils reports, where were the engineers and why did this ever happen to poor unsuspecting home buyers that signed away their rights in the form of a waiver?? What is your viewpoint? Have you been caught up in any type of builder or subcontractors defects. Please let us know!

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.