Colorado’s new right-of-access statute may help address one of the unintended consequences of individually owned townhome developments, but it does not solve every problem associated with repairing interconnected building systems. The Problem: Six Homes, One Building Envelope Consider a hypothetical six-unit townhome building in Colorado. Each residence is individually owned. There is no homeowners association […]
Colorado Construction Litigation Blog
Colorado’s construction defect statutes establish specific requirements for notices of claim and statutory tolling. It is time for courts and arbitrators to enforce them. There is a frustrating tendency in some Colorado construction defect litigation to treat virtually any written complaint about construction work as a statutory notice of claim under the Construction Defect Action […]
Fourteen years ago, we cautioned Colorado homeowners associations against a “ready, fire, aim” approach to construction-defect litigation. In The Hidden Dangers of Construction Defect Litigation, we suggested a fairly simple proposition: when legitimate construction defects exist, the goal should be to get them repaired. Litigation should be a last resort, not an end in itself. […]
For decades, Colorado law has recognized an important distinction between the duty to defend and the duty to indemnify. The former ordinarily arises at the beginning of litigation; the latter generally cannot be determined until the underlying liability is known. That distinction makes intuitive sense. A defense that becomes due only after litigation concludes is […]