CONSTRUCTION DEFECT

 

Jurisdiction: Nantucket Superior Court, Nantucket, MA

     This case involved home defects of five modular homes.  We represented the general contractor.  Also defendants in the case were the makers of the modular homes and several subcontractors. 
     The essence of the dispute was not necessarily whether defects had been created by what clearly amounted to a botched attempt to build while using modular box-homes.  There were a number of issues between and among the defendants as to why the modular construction was botched, and this resulted in numerous depositions throughout discovery and endless finger-pointing among the maker of the modular homes, the general contractor, Topham, our client, and several of the subcontractors.  However, the essence of the defense had always been a damages dispute.  The defendants had a uniform damages defense and the damage expert witnesses were shared by the defendants.  This matter also involved a mold abatement in two of the four homes and the defense also had a unified mold expert. 
     On behalf of the defendant, Topham, we moved to request that the court consider a reverse bifurcation.  This would be for the purpose of achieving the value to repair the homes.  It was suggested to the court, that this would likely result in a settlement of the matter without having to try the matter on liability.  The court agreed with the defendant’s suggestion and the matter was tried for 2½ weeks in Nantucket Superior Court on the issue of damages.  The alleged plaintiffs’ damages with interest were approaching $2,000,000.00.  The jury’s verdict was approximately $340,000.00 total (all five homes), and the matter was later resolved by way of settlement without the need for a liability trial.  This proved to be a creative way to resolve the matter and resulted in a fantastic resolution.