Defects bill clears Senate — changes likely in Assembly

Monday, April 21, 2003 | 9:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A construction defect bill intended to help contractors with their rising insurance premiums may face some major changes in the Assembly after being easily approved in the Senate on Friday.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said the House is "very concerned about protecting the rights of the homeowner." She said she doesn't want the law tilted to allow for shoddy construction.

She thinks the Assembly Judiciary Committee, when it receives Senate Bill 241, will make a number of changes.

Steve Hill, chairman of the Coalition for Fairness in Construction, was happy with the 17-3 vote in the Senate.The coalition is a group of contractors, subcontractors and others who pushed for a major change in the law.

"It may be tougher on the other side," in the Assembly, "but we think they will see the wisdom of it," Hill said.

"If we don't get this passed, most contractors won't be able to get insurance at all," to protect them from construction defect suits, Hill said. Insurance premiums for contractors have soared in the last several years because of defect litigation, he said. The bill would require a dissatisfied homeowner to give notice to a contractor about construction problems in the home before any suit could be filed. The contractor would have 150 days to make repairs.

Both the homeowner and the contractor could ask the state Contractors Board to mediate any disagreement over the repairs. That is optional.

If the homeowner was still dissatisfied, he or she could file suit.

This process, said Hill, should reduce suits and allow homeowners to get their problems fixed soon without having to wait several years for the outcome of a civil suit.

Hill said the bill gives a better definition of a construction defect. SB241 says a contractor is not liable for any design, construction, manufacturing, alteration, improvement, repair or landscaping that complied with the building codes when it was completed.

It says that the approval by building inspectors is "is prima facie evidence" that the work was completed in compliance with building codes.

The present law allows contractors to make repairs where there are four or less homeowners. But it provides that in those cases with five or more homeowners, a suit must be filed and then the contractor has the right to repair.

Attorneys for consumers complain repairs are never made after the suit is filed.

In opposing the bill Friday, Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the measure "tilts the scale, leaving the homeowner vulnerable." She said she hopes the Assembly will change the bill to "better protect Nevada homeowners."

Voting against SB241 were Titus, Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas and Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas.

Buckley said Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, has already served notice that homeowners would be protected. Although lawyers, contractors and insurance companies are battling over the bill, it's the consumer who will have top priority, Buckley said.