EIFS is a synthetic building cladding material introduced to New Jersey in the early 1980s. It was designed to mimic the look of real stucco, yet be easier and cheaper for homebuilders to install. Unfortunately, EIFS has also brought with it a host of shortcomings, notably drainage and moisture intrusion problems on wood-frame residential construction that began to emerge in 1995. As these barrier EIFS systems began to fail, many families discovered extensive rotting around windows, doors and other external frame penetrations. Worse, others found substantial internal frame rotting and damage to their homes. Still others reported pest infestation and even extensive mold growth. That situation would be bad enough if it were a surprise. But, it wasn't.

In fact, they knew all along...

Construction Law Updates

  • Homeowner's Association Standing To Assert Without Joining the Homeowners Donald B. Brenner, Shareholder and Chair of Stark & Stark's Construction Litigation group has authored the article Homeowner's Association Standing To Assert Without Joining the Homeowners for the March 24, 2008 edition of the New Jersey Law Journal. ....
  • $5 Million Verdict In Favor Of New Jersey Residential High-Rise Building On March 11, 2008, in the matter of Camelot Condominium Association, Inc v. Dryvit Systems, Inc., pending before the Superior Court of New jersey, Docket No. BER-L-012457-04, a jury entered a verdict in favor of the Plaintiff and against Dryvit... ....
  • Condo Association Equitably Estopped from Consumer Fraud Act Relief When Its Conduct Resulted in the Violation After a condominium association president declined a contractor’s request to execute a written change order and directed the contractor to proceed with the additional work, the association was barred from seeking relief under the Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”) (N.J.S.A. 56:8-1 to -167) provisions requiring that all modifications to contracts for home improvements be in writing. B & H Securities, Inc., v. CKC Condominium Ass’n, Inc., 2008 WL 508082 (App. Div., February 27, 2008). ....
  • Property Owner Did Not Waive Arbitration Clause by Participating in Lawsuit In an unpublished case, the Appellate Division recently affirmed the trial court’s decision that defendant property owner did not waive the arbitration clause of its AIA construction contract with plaintiff construction company by participating in plaintiff lawsuit for a year before invoking the arbitration clause. ....
  • Consumers Cannot Waive Regulatory Requirement for Written Home Improvement Contracts The Appellate Division recently denied a landscaping contractor’s suit to collect amounts due for extra work in addition to that called for in his contract for complete landscaping of the defendants’ home. Online Contracting, Inc. v. Tripucka, No. A-2622-06 (App.... ....
  • Gehry - Construction Defects are Inevitable World famous architect Frank Gehry, and his firm Gehry Partners is a defendant in a recent lawsuit brought by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology alleging design and construction defects in a $300 Million building on the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus. ....
  • Builder's Risk Policy Does Not Cover Damage to City Sewer Pipe Plaintiff WHP9, the developer of a multi-building residential project in North Bergen, secured a builder’s risk policy from defendant Centennial Insurance and liability insurance from another carrier before beginning construction. ....
  • Appellate Division Enforces Terms of Association’s Insurance Policy In an unpublished decision, the Appellate Division recently enforced an insurer’s duty to indemnify and defend a condominium association for damages resulting from an occurrence during the policy period even though they were not discovered until after the policy had expired. Steinbauer v. East Coast Acquisitions, LLC, 2007 WL 2593007 (App. Div. September 11, 2007). ....
  • New Jersey Federal Court Declines to Hear Minnesota Insurance Coverage Dispute. Judge Noel L. Hillman of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, sitting in Trenton, recently dismissed a case before her on the grounds that the New Jersey court was an inappropriate place to hear the dispute. ....
  • District Court Defines "Residential Construction" As we conduct discovery in our most egregious construction defect cases, construction litigators often observe that the same financial shortfalls that lead overextended or greedy developers to “cut corners” or “cheap the job” often result in their leaving contractors, subcontractors and suppliers unpaid when their contracts are “complete.” ....