 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Craftsman Builder's Supply Inc. v. Butler Manufacturing Co.3/5/1999
Valley we struck down the prior version of the builders statute of repose as violating the open courts clause. However, the statute of repose at issue in those cases was substantially different from the one before us now. The prior statute eliminated all causes of action for injury due to defective design and construction seven years after completion of construction. Furthermore, in the prior statute, the legislature did not identify any social or economic evil. We were left to review what we considered the obvious: that the "purpose of the legislation to end the potential threat of a lawsuit to some construction professionals." Horton, 785 P.2d at 1094. We acknowledged that while that may be a meritorious objective driven by a valid societal interest in providing a time of repose so as not to allow possible mistakes of the past to forever burden an individual, eliminating this evil did not justify the elimination of the injured parties' remedies seven years after construction. See id. at 1094-95. We thus held the prior builders statute of repose unconstitutional. In so doing, we found it significant that the prior statute of repose was "too likely to cut off injuries that should be compensated." Id. at 1095. However, we specifically stated that the open courts clause does not "necessarily forbid forever and always all such forgiveness of mistake" and that " hat it clearly does is make certain that periods of repose only be allowed when the possibility of injury and damage has become highly remote and unexpected." Id.
The builders statute of repose at issue in the present case lists the specific evils it desires to eliminate. Two of the stated evils concern costs to the construction industry: liability insurance costs and records storage costs. Absent a statute of repose, these costs would continue for the life of both the provider and the improvement. Such costs could be significant and would likely increase the cost of building, which undoubtedly would be passed on to consumers. This may very well adversely impact the state's economy by increasing the cost of living. The legislature also found that liability risk extending for the lifetime of a provider and an improvement constituted a social and economic evil. Many buildings in this state were constructed decades ago, and some are even older than a century. While some of the business entities responsible for such construction may still exist, the individual providers who assisted in the construction may have long since retired or passed away. The perpetual risk of liability to retired individuals or to businesses whose current owners had nothing to do with construction projects in the past undoubtedly creates a hardship to those involved. We have recognized such hardship and have stated that " ertainly there is a valid social interest in providing a time of repose--in wiping the slate clean and not allowing possible mistakes of the past to becloud an individual's life forever"--and that " he practice of wiping out past debts is an ancient one, rooted, indeed, in Old Testament times." Horton, 785 P.2d at 1095. We hold that the above legislative concerns identify clear social and economic evils.
We now consider perhaps the more important inquiry of whether the builders statute of repose which eliminates an injured party's remedy under certain circumstances is a reasonable and non-arbitrary means to eliminate the stated evils. Craftsman argues that the builders statute of repose is arbitrary and unreasonable because it cuts off causes of action before they accrue and because the periods of repose apply to all kinds of improvements to real property without regard to their useful life. However, we have clearly stated that the open courts clause
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Utah Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|