Ned Babb recently obtained summary judgment on behalf of his client in a construction case wherein the plaintiffs were seeking several hundred thousand dollars in damages. Mr. Babb raised Tennessee’s statute of repose as a defense. The relevant part of that statute states as follows:
All actions . . . to recover damages for any deficiency in the design, planning, supervision, observation of construction, or construction of an improvement to real property, for injury to property, real or personal, arising out of any such deficiency . . . must be brought against any person performing or furnishing the design, planning, supervision, observation of construction, or construction of the improvement within four (4) years after substantial completion of an improvement. [Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-202]
Substantial completion is defined to mean “that degree of completion of a project, improvement, or a specified area or portion thereof (in accordance with the contract documents, as modified by any change orders agreed to by the parties) upon attainment of which the owner can use the same for the purpose for which it was intended; the date of substantial completion may be established by written agreement between the contractor and the owner.” [Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-201(2).]
Arguing that the claim was barred by the Tennessee statute of repose, Mr. Babb convinced the court that the plaintiffs should not prevail and the court therefore granted summary judgment in favor of our client.