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CLPF-Parkridge One1/31/2005
uction defect lawsuit terminates. Such a reading would bar operation of C.R.C.P. 13 and 14 in construction defect lawsuits, rendering a general contractor sued by a homeowner for a construction defect unable to resolve the liability of a subcontractor who caused the defect, except by filing a separate suit and thereby prolonging litigation.
Depending on the outcome of this second litigation, a third lawsuit might be commenced by the person held responsible for the construction defect in the second lawsuit, and so on through a succession of lawsuits down the chain of architects, contractors, builders, engineers, and inspectors. If this were the General Assembly's intent, it would defy the axiom that time is money and produce an absurd result for the construction industry.
The rules of civil procedure are designed to avoid extensive seasons of fractured litigation, such as this. They promote expeditious resolution of all disputes arising out of the same transaction in a single lawsuit. To avoid multiple, expensive, time-intensive, and time-delayed suits, C.R.C.P. 13(g) provides that a cross-claim may be brought against a party who "is or may be liable to the cross claimant for all or part of a claim asserted in the action against the cross claimant."
C.R.C.P. 14(a) provides that a defending party may have process served against "a person not a party to the action who is or may be liable to him for all or part of the plaintiff's claim against him."
These rules allow cross-party or third-party claims in order to avoid the necessity of separate actions. Packaging Corp. of America v. Indus. Comm'n, 477 P.2d 367, 368 (Colo. 1970). They guard against circuitry of action, save time and expense, and eliminate a serious handicap to the defendant consisting of the time difference between the judgment against her and a judgment in her favor against the cross-party or third-party defendant. Pioneer Mut. Comp. Co. v. Cosby, 244 P.2d 1089, 1091-92 (Colo. 1952). Claims that may be pursued against a cross-party or third-party defendant are those that "would result in a judgment against a [cross-party or] third party for all or some part of the judgment entered against a defendant on a plaintiff's claim . . . ." Martinez v. Denver Transformer Sales & Serv., Inc., 780 P.2d 49, 51 (Colo. App. 1989).
Our statutory analysis concludes that the General Assembly did not intend to prevent the beneficial operation of C.R.C.P. 13 and 14 in construction defect litigation; accordingly, we reject the trial court's construction of section 13-80-104(1)(b)(II).
2. The Statute's Conflicting Language
As in other statute of limitation cases, "arise" is a word that can be clear or unclear, straightforward or ambiguous, depending on the statutory context. In City and County of Denver v. Gonzales, 17 P.3d 137, 140-41 (Colo. 2001), for example, we considered different dictionary definitions of the words "arise" and "arising from" ("originate," "stem," "result," "grow out of," "flow from") in the course of analyzing two possibly applicable statute of limitations provisions, one a two-year period, the other a three-year period. We concluded that the legislature intended the three-year period to apply in that case. In part, we relied on the canon that statutes of limitation are in derogation of a presumptively valid claim and the longer period will be preferred because it affords a claimant additional time to prepare and bring its action. Id. at 140.
As in Gonzalez, we cannot read section 13-80-104(1)(b)(II) in isolation from other provisions of the statute. As a whole, the Construction Defect Action Reform Act ("CDARA") addresses construction defect ca
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