Colorado Court of Appeals Gives Homebuilders the Gift of Arbitration
Colorado SB 177 died in a House of Representatives committee on Monday, April 27. The bill, which had already been passed by the Colorado Senate, would have given Colorado homebuilders several protections against construction defect lawsuits. A number of Colorado municipalities have been trying to pick up the pieces for the homebuilder lobby by passing their own similar local ordinances. Lakewood, Lone Tree, and Littleton have done so, and several other cities threaten to follow that path as well. The legality and enforceability of such local ordinances is questionable, however, given the breadth of state-level statutes on construction defect claims, common interest communities, and arbitration which arguably preempt and preclude location legislation on those topics.
House Committee Postpones Bill Reducing the Statute of Repose Indefinitely
In a victory for Colorado homeowners, the Colorado House Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs postponed Senate Bill 91 indefinitely. The bill had originally been drafted to reduce Colorado’s construction-related statute of repose from six to three years. A three-year statute of repose would have made Colorado the state with the shortest statute of repose in the United States.
No Turning Back: Getting Ready for Your Community’s Statue of Repose to Expire
The statute of repose is a Colorado law that prevents a homeowner or community association from filing a lawsuit for construction defects after a certain number of years have passed. Once the time has expired, the Association has no claims against a builder. When Does the Statute of Repose Begin to run and When does it Expire? What Should a Community Association Manager Do in the “Final Year of Repose”?