The Pennsylvania Supreme Court made a ruling in Brown v. City of Oil City that caught the attention of Pennsylvania’s commercial construction industry. In this case, a contractor completed a library project in 2011 and almost immediately the concrete steps started spalling. The project’s owner made the design and construction team aware of the issue and tasked the structural engineer to correct the steps by putting the work out to bid. However, this rebid never happened and for four years the steps remained in need of repair until an unfortunate and fatal incident happened. Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held the lower court’s ruling that the contractor was not absolved from liability just because the defect was patent and the high court sent the case back to trial court.
In this Keystone Contractors Association webinar, Matthew Erlanger will discuss the case to alleviate any concerns regarding the breadth of the decision and to provide recommendations to prevent liability.