Colorado Appellate Court Upholds $1,850,000 Construction Defect Verdict in Challenger Homes Community

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Feb. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The law firm of Kerrane Storz received a major win in a Colorado appellate court case relating regarding a Challenger Homes neighborhood. The case could mark a major expansion of warranty protections for homeowners throughout the State of Colorado. The appellate court case contained several major holdings that are beneficial for Colorado homeowners, including:

1. Builders provide implied warranties of habitability and workmanlike construction, even if the home seller is a different entity;

2. A builder that takes over construction of a community from another builder is responsible for delivery of properly constructed common areas for the entire community;

3. A community association may recover damages for repair of all the construction defects in the common areas, even if not all owners in the association are original purchasers;

4. A verdict entered against a builder on a warranty claim cannot be reduced by a community association's negligence; and

5. A community association has standing to bring claims for damages to the common areas, regardless of whether the common areas are owned by the Association or the individual owners.

This landmark ruling in Brooktree Village Homeowners Ass'n v. Brooktree Village, LLC, 2020 WL 6789033 (Colo.App., 2020), followed a verdict of $1,850,000 to the Association on its warranty claims against the builder. The case presented a matter of first impression regarding a builders responsibility to deliver common areas in a good and workmanlike manner, even when the builder took over development of the neighborhood after the departure of another builder.

In issuing its landmark ruling the three-judge panel held that "a homeowner's association may recover from a successor developer or builder the entire cost of remediating construction defects in common areas where (1) the defects are attributable to the successor developer or builder; (2) two or more of the association's members purchased their homes directly from the successor developer or builder; and (3) those members have rights to use the common areas — even if the successor developer or builder never owned the common areas."

"The Appellate panel in this case recognized that a builder such as Challenger Homes owes a duty to provide habitable, properly constructed homes and common areas to the owners and to the Community Association, regardless of whether owners sell their units or whether the builder is taking over development of the community after another builder leaves," said the trial counsel for the Association, Heidi Storz. "This appellate court decision rightly adds a new level of fairness to Colorado homeowners. When a builder or developer sells homes in a community, the developer has a responsibility for all of the community and can't blame problems on a prior builder."

The case resulted in a confidential, post-verdict settlement between the Association and the builder entities, including Challenger Homes.

The law firm of Kerrane Storz, P.C. represents property owners and community associations in construction defect matters.

Contact:
Heidi Storz
[email protected]
720-898-9680
SOURCE Kerrane Storz, P.C

Media Contact

Heidi Storz, Kerrane Storz, P.C., +1 720-898-9680, [email protected]

SOURCE Kerrane Storz, P.C.