Case Seen As ‘Groundbreaking’
“A case heard last week by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involving a North Las Vegas apartment complex has potential for ‘groundbreaking’ ramifications, a local attorney for one of the defendants said Monday.
“An organization for disabled citizens has sued multiple defendants who had any part in designing and building Craig Ranch Villas, formerly the Villas at Rancho del Norte, in 1997 for violations of the Fair Housing Act, alleging inadequate sidewalk ramps for wheelchairs, lack of accessible building entrances and undersized interior doorways, among other things.
“The case has been incorporated into a lawsuit from Idaho (Garcia v. Brockway) and is being followed nationally by major multifamily and fair housing organizations, said Bill Curran of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll. The Las Vegas law firm is representing Michael Turk, one of the principal builders who has since sold his majority interest in the property and moved to California.
“The outcome of the court’s ruling will determine the statute of limitations for violations of the Fair Housing Act for all multifamily apartments and condos built after 1991, Curran said.”
This case may have a significant affect on the world of construction defect litigation, as pointed out later in the article. The major point behind this ruling is not whether or not accessibility should be a consideration in multifamily construction, but whether or not there should be a statute of limitations regarding accessibility claims.
19 April 2008 | Construction, Construction Defect, Construction and Law, Litigation | Comments
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