Construction group ready for defect lawsuit fight in Nevada

Jennifer Robison

Monday, April 22, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

A new construction industry group designed to fight the rising tide of construction defect litigation assembled for its first meeting Thursday at Palace Station.

The meeting of the Coalition for Fairness in Construction drew more than 100 attendees from about 30 companies and trade groups -- including a strong contingent from Northern Nevada, said Mark Tomlinson,a member of the coalition's executive committee.

"The meeting was to invite other related industry associations and anybody that may have further interest in our issue to join the coalition," said Tomlinson, who is also president of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association. "We're expanding our group in an outreach effort, because we want a united industry to go to Carson City (for the 2003 Legislative session)."

Disunity has hampered the building industry in previous Legislative sessions during which industry groups sought relief from skyrocketing construction defect litigation, which builders now blame for increasingly unaffordable construction insurance premiums.

"We helped shoot ourselves in the foot in the last session by splintering as an industry," said Steve Hill, chairman of the coalition and president of Silver State Materials. "The members of the coalition understand that, so they're very committed to making sure it doesn't happen again."

Tomlinson echoed Hill's remarks.

"In the past, we've not always had unity," he said. "Some folks have pursued what they thought were key issues, and in the last session in particular, we didn't have a unified thought as to what we could live with as an industry. Hearing that message in the last session, this time, we're going to walk up with a program we can live with as an industry."

That program will include the right for builders and subcontractors to repair problems before homeowners file lawsuits, said Hill, who initially conceived of and organized the coalition.

He said the group's plan will also seek a clear and consistent definition "of what constitutes a real defect in a home."

Hill said the coalition will utilize the services of several high-powered lobbyists, including Billy Vassiliadis of R&R Partners and Jim Wadhams of the law firm of Wadhams and Akridge.

Lobbyists for Nevada plaintiffs' attorneys are likely to counter the contractors with stories of shoddy construction and demands that the rights of consumers be protected.

The contractors' group will also tap the lobbyists of its various member organizations, such as the Associated General Contractors, Associated Builders & Contractors, the Southern Nevada Association of Home Builders and the Nevada Subcontractors Association.

Hill said the coalition as a whole will meet every two to three months until the 2003 Legislative session draws closer.

Tomlinson said the group's executive committee will continue to meet every two weeks.

"We're really starting to refine issues and start working on drafting what we think are the answers to our problem," Tomlinson said. "On a larger scale, we are basically reaching out and seeking people's support."

Hill said he's positive about the prospects for his group's success in the upcoming legislative session.

"The pulse we feel from talking to individual legislators is that they understand the basic fairness of the right-to-repair issue, and they are really surprised that it did not pass in the last session. They're relatively sympathetic to that need, so I feel very confident."