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.