David McLain is a founding member of Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell. Mr. McLain has over 22 years of experience and is well known for his work in the defense of the construction industry, particularly in the area of construction defect litigation. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the CLM Claims College […]
Colorado Construction Litigation Blog
EIFS, or Exterior Insulation and Finish System, is an integrated exterior insulation and synthetic stucco system, praised for its energy efficiency.[1] However, EIFS has come to be well known in the construction defect world as placing homes at risk due to a lack of a built-in moisture management system. Before long, insurance companies recognized the […]
On June 24, 2019, the Colorado Supreme Court held that when a contract or insurance policy requires an “impartial” appraisal, the appraiser for a party cannot be an advocate for that party.[1] In this situation, the appraiser must be unbiased, disinterested, without prejudice, and unswayed by personal interest. Id. Owners Insurance Company (“Owners”) issued a […]
On February 7th, Representative Garnett, with Senator Fenberg as the Senate sponsor, introduced HB 20-1290, concerning the ability of an insurer to use a failure-to-cooperate defense in an action in which the insured has made a claim for insurance coverage. If the bill were to pass, in order to plead or prove a failure-to-cooperate defense […]
On Tuesday, February 18th, the Colorado House Business Affairs & Labor Committee voted 10-0 to postpone indefinitely House Bill 1046. If it had been enacted, HB 1046 would have required, for all for all construction contracts of at least $150,000: A property owner to make partial payments to the contractor of any amount due under the […]
Here is a rundown of the latest goings on at the Colorado State Capitol: SB 20-138 – Concerning increased consumer protection for homeowners seeking relief for construction defects. As previously discussed, if enacted, Senate Bill 20-138 would: Extend Colorado’s statute of repose for construction defects from 6+2 years to 10+2 years; Require tolling of the […]
NEWS RELEASE February 12, 2020 METRO AREA MAYORS URGE NO VOTE ON SB 93 AS WRITTEN Hancock: “Now is not the time to shift Colorado into reverse and undo the great work this General Assembly has done to promote attainable housing.” Denver, CO – Today, Denver area mayors joined the chorus of business organizations, housing […]
On January 27th, Senator Robert Rodriguezintroduced SB 20-138 into the Colorado Legislature. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee and has not yet been scheduled for its first hearing in that committee. In short, Senate Bill 20-138, if enacted, would: 1) Extend Colorado’s statute of repose for construction defects from 6+2 years […]
By David M. McLain The 2020 Colorado legislative session started on Wednesday, January 8th. It seems like there will be plenty of issues this year to which home builders will want to pay close attention. On January 13th, Senators Fenberg, Foote, and Jackson sponsored SB 20-093, known as the “Consumer and Employee Dispute Resolution Fairness Act.” […]
With increasing frequency in the construction defect cases we defend, we are seeing commercial general liability insurance policies with “subcontractor warranty” endorsements. Also known as contractor or subcontractor special conditions, these endorsements could have severe and negative consequences for builders that do not comply with their requirements. In researching for this article, I reviewed six different endorsements […]
