Home Builders Launch Tort Reform Initiative - 2/23/2004 - Attorney Lawyer Legal Building Codes Zoning

Home Builders Launch Tort Reform Initiative

Earlier this year, the association formed a partnership with the High Production Builders Council to dedicate a significant amount of funding and staff time to support several goals, including:

• Assisting home builders associations working to enact Notice and Opportunity to Repair legislation and broad civil justice reform at the state level
• Conducting research to help analyze the benefits of reform and how much construction defect litigation costs the industry
• Participating in pro-civil justice reform organizations, including the American Tort Reform Association

Since the start of this year's state legislative sessions, Notice and Opportunity to Repair legislation has been introduced in 11 states. Lawmakers in Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennessee are considering adopting new construction defect laws, while bills  in Alaska, Arizona, Florida and South Carolina would enhance existing Notice and Opportunity to Repair laws.

Many states are relying on model bill language endorsed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in 2002 and amended in 2003. To date, 19 states have Notice and Opportunity to Repair or related laws on record.

These laws are just one step toward meaningful tort reform. State associations are also advancing bills to make statutes of repose more reasonable, limit punitive damages and clarify home warranty laws.

For NAHB, reforming the country's civil justice system has become, and will continue to be, a top priority. This mission is a product of the current legal system, in which trial lawyers, under the guise of consumer advocacy, are subjecting home builders to costly and unfair litigation and legal fees. This has resulted in skyrocketing general liability insurance premiums for builders, and home owners are being adversely affected as well because lawsuits greatly delay the time they must wait to have their construction problems fixed.

For more information on NAHB’s civil justice reform initiatives, NAHB members can click here, or e-mail Sam Leyvas or call him at 800-368-5242 x8326.