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Craftsman Builder's Supply Inc. v. Butler Manufacturing Co.3/5/1999
y material fact and . . . the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c). When reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we review the district court's Conclusions of law for correctness. See Taylor v. Ogden Sch. Dist., 927 P.2d 159, 162 (Utah 1996).
ANALYSIS
I. OPEN COURTS CLAUSE
We first address the constitutionality of the builders statute of repose under the open courts clause of the Utah Constitution. That statute provides that actions for injury to persons or property arising out of an improvement to real property must be brought within a certain number of years of the triggering event. See Utah Code Ann. § 78-12-25.5 (1996). If the action is for breach of contract or warranty, then the action must be brought within six years after completion of the improvement or abandonment of construction; if the breach is discovered in the sixth year, however, then the injured party has two additional years from the date of that discovery in which to bring the action. See id. § 78-12-25.5(4). All other actions, e.g., those based in tort, must be brought within twelve years after completion or abandonment, unless the act or omission giving rise to the action is discovered in the twelfth year, in which case the injured party has two years from the date of that discovery to commence the action. See id. § 78-12-25.5(5). In any case, if the act or omission giving rise to the action is discovered or should have been discovered at any time prior to the six- and twelve-year periods, then the injured party only has two years in which to bring his claim. See id. § 78-12-25.5(3).
If the injured party discovers his cause of action before the respective six- and twelve-year periods have run, the statute acts as a statute of limitations. Statutes of limitation operate to preclude a cause of action after it has accrued and are "intended to compel the exercise of a right of action within a reasonable time and to suppress stale and fraudulent claims so that claims are advanced while evidence to rebut them is still fresh." Horton v. Goldminer's Daughter, 785 P.2d 1087, 1091 (Utah 1989). However, if the injured party does not discover (and reasonably could not have discovered) his cause of action until after the six- and twelve-year periods have run, then the statute acts as a statute of repose, cutting off the injured party's cause of action before it even arises. See Berry v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 717 P.2d 670, 672 (Utah 1985). In the present case, Craftsman's building was constructed in 1978 and its roof collapsed under the weight of snow fifteen years later in 1993; thus, the statute acts as a statute of repose and, if constitutional, bars Craftsman's causes of action.
Craftsman argues that the builders statute of repose violates the open courts clause, which provides in part that " ll courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done to him in his person, property or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law." Utah Const. art. I, § 11. In Berry, we stated that the purpose of the open courts clause was to "impose some limitation" on the legislature's "great latitude in defining, changing, and modernizing the law." 717 P.2d at 676. To be constitutional under the open courts clause, a statute that limits a right to a remedy for injury to person, property, or reputation must satisfy the following test set forth in Berry:
"First, section 11 is satisfied if the law provides an injured person an effective and reasonable alternative remedy "by due course of law" for vindication of his constitutional interest. The benefit provided by the substitute must be substantially equal in value or other benefit to the
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