MyFloridaCode.com

Thanks Bob and all the others for all the great feedback thus far.  Bob, you
really brought out the legal implications of this very well.lots of points I
had not considered.  Lawyers are scary when they're not on your side of the
table.  

 

Bill, this particular incident occurred at the bottom plate.  The guys were
nailing the base trim to the bottom plate and this nail hit just (less than
1/16") above the protective plate and went into the hot water pipe coming up
from the slab.  The plate was just a 1-1/2" wide plate at the very bottom
and thus did not extend a minimum of 2" above the sole plate as required in
P2603.2.1 of the Residential Code.  However, I'm pretty sure this
requirement was not in effect when this house  was built (sometime in the
80's I think) so not sure how something like that would be handled in a
court.

 

As I mentioned, I'm doing all repairs and covering the plumber cost because
this is certainly not worth putting my reputation into question and it's
just the right thing to do.  This is a very minor (thankfully) situation
that can be fixed quicker than it takes to describe it.  As a relatively new
contractor though, it just brought up some points to ponder that I thought
I'd look into now instead of waiting until I run into something like what
Bob described below.

 

Thanks again,

 

Ken

 

From: Bob Koning [mailto:Bob at ContractorsInstitute.com] 
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 10:38 AM
To: Bill LeMaster; Ken Rodgers; codetalk at myfloridacode.com
Subject: RE: [Florida Code Talk] Damage Responsibilities

 

Ken, I am not an attorney so I cannot answer your question with any degree
of legal certainty.  I have however, been involved with several cases that
involved a similar situation; one case involved a nail such as yours causing
a small puddle leak which an elderly lady slipped and fell on going to the
bathroom late at night.  Her injuries were critical and extensive.  Another
case involved a nail such as yours penetrating the electrical conductor
setting up a small fault current in the circuit which ultimately led to the
electrocution of a plumber underneath the house some four years after the
completion of the work.

 

In each case the jury allocated and assigned the fault to each contractor,
factoring those contractors who might have been involved but were not in the
case (attorneys will refer to this as a Fabre defense and it must applied
carefully and correctly or attorneys fees may be assessed).

 

But, had you been sued by the owner, obviously there would be two issues
involved; one, had it not been for your nail, the leak would not have
happened and two, had the nail guard been properly placed your nail would
not have penetrated the pipe.  In my opinion the improper placement of the
nail guard would be an affirmative defense a suit and might be grounds to
dismiss a case against you by way of  a summary judgment.  However, I
believe the other side would produce a "expert" that would testify that the
nails should have been driven by hand thereby alerting the carpenter that
the nail had missed a stud and entered a crack area or alternatively that a
trained carpenter should have heard a difference in the gun the impact and
known that the nail missed a stud and struck a pipe.

 

Sound unbelievable that an expert would testify to such as an absolute?
Trust me, attorneys can find experts to testify and swear to anything in
today's litigious society.  Remember experts cannot be sued for their
"opinion".  This has led to all extremes of lies and falsities sworn to
under oath.  I believe we need to change the law and hold experts
accountable for their testimony to their respective professional licensing
boards. Regardless of all of this, it has been my experience that you would
end up defending yourself or your company in front of a jury.  How would
they rule?

 

As I said, I am not an attorney, and it is situations like this whereby
contractor has need not only of an attorney - but a board certified
construction attorney.  It is a specialty subset of law in my opinion, and
most issues are not "black-or-white". 

 

 

 

R.J.Koning - Director

Contractors Institute

rjkoning at contractorsinstitute.com

8301 Joliet Street

Hudson, Fl 34667

727-863-5147

 

 

 

From: codetalk-bounces at myfloridacode.com
[mailto:codetalk-bounces at myfloridacode.com] On Behalf Of Bill LeMaster
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 11:31 AM
To: 'Ken Rodgers'; codetalk at myfloridacode.com
Subject: Re: [Florida Code Talk] Damage Responsibilities

 

Was the plate the proper size?

 

William T. LeMaster CBO/CEAP/MCP

Okaloosa County

From: codetalk-bounces at myfloridacode.com
[mailto:codetalk-bounces at myfloridacode.com] On Behalf Of Ken Rodgers
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 6:45 PM
To: codetalk at myfloridacode.com
Subject: [Florida Code Talk] Damage Responsibilities

 

Evening All,

  I know this isn't really a code question but hope I can get some feedback
nonetheless.  This is in regards to responsibilities for damages during
construction & remodeling.  Normally, it's pretty cut and dry and as such I
take full responsibility to make repairs as needed for any damages I may
have done.  However, a recent minor incident just raised the question and
thought I'd get feedback from others.

 

  After a recent bathroom remodel job, the customer called to let me know
they had to call in a plumber to repair a leak in the hot water line.
During installation of wainscoting over the existing sheetrock, one of my
guys had shot a finish nail into it and it didn't start leaking until a few
weeks later.  There was a protection plate but unfortunately it did not
completely cover the pipes and as luck would have it my guys found the
exposed spot.  So, the question is, since the plate was not properly placed,
how much responsibility should I or do I bear?  In this particular instance
it's not really a big deal and I will most likely cover everything either
way (certainly not worth getting into a dispute over).  However, I just
thought I'd bring this up as a sort of case study to get feedback for this
and future issues.  

 

Thanks,

 

Ken 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://myfloridacode.com/pipermail/codetalk/attachments/20090918/01b831cd/attachment.html