This is a big deal for new homeowners and California construction defect law, brought to you in part by my friend Steven Weil of Berding & Weil:
Building on substantial case law and the common law principles on which it is based, we hold that an architect owes a duty of care to future homeowners in the design of a residential building where, as here, the architect is a principal architect on the project—that is, the architect, in providing professional design services, is not subordinate to other design professionals. The duty of care extends to such architects even when they do not actually build the project or exercise ultimate control over construction. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Beacon Residential Cmty. Ass’n v. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, S208173, 2014 WL 2988058 (Cal. July 3, 2014).
“As California goes, so goes the nation.” Prof. Edgar Dykstra.
