The Construction Defect Department at Garfinkel Law is committed to helping community associations obtain the relief they are entitled to from developer or from deficient construction, maintenance, or repairs. Our Construction Defect Department offers extensive experience handling construction defect and property damage claims on behalf of all types of community associations. Our Firm does not represent developers or insurance companies so we are free to pursue these entities for the amounts owed to your association.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CONSTRUCTION DEFECTS
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A typical construction defect case involves the following: Investigate damages; placing all responsible parties on notice, attempts to resolve the claim(s); and litigation.
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Rather than you and your community, responsible parties include the developer, general contractors, subcontractors, materialmen, architects and engineers.
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It is important to know if a defect is patent or latent. A patent defect is one that is obvious to the average person and can readily be seen. A latent defect is one that is not obvious to the average person or is hidden; these defects can extend the time an association has to bring a construction defect claim.
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Florida law requires very specific actions and very specific time requirements that a community association must follow before filing a construction defect lawsuit.
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If a construction defect presents a health or safety issue, emergency repairs to protect the health, safety and welfare of the community should be made immediately. If a construction defect does not present a health or safety issue, notice of that defect should be given to the developer and other responsible parties as soon as possible before the association undertakes any repairs.
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It is important to locate and have readily available a copy of all of the association’s governing documents, sales and marketing materials, construction plans, permits and inspection reports in order for the association’s professionals (i.e. engineers and attorneys) to evaluate a construction defect claim.
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Even if the original developer of the community or condominium has filed for bankruptcy protection or has few apparent assets, the association may still have remedies against contractors, subcontractors and insurance companies, among others.
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If a community association believes construction defects exist, the association should immediately involve experienced and qualified community association construction defect legal counsel to assist in evaluating and pursuing potential claims. The community may only have one chance to determine and document damages from responsible parties, without being prejudiced in the future so it is important that the process be done correctly the first time.
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We help community associations fight back against folks that won’t fix their bad work. Why should you or your community pay for others bad work?
MOST CASES WE HANDLE ON A WIN OR NO FEES OR COSTS OPTION
Our winning and court-proven team of attorneys, experts, investigators, and staff reviews each case to determine the best course of action that will result in the most successful outcome for each association we represent. Garfinkel Law has established industry relationships and maintains financial capital sufficient to offer clients with a full contingency option for most claims.
Every association that has recently undergone a transition from developer control owes its membership a duty of full investigation to determine that the common elements and association property are defect-free prior to the Statute of Limitations expiring on such claims. Associations that fail to do so may find themselves barred from pursuing a claim and may need to resort to specially assessing their membership to fix the deficiencies that a developer should have paid.
We work with your community, understanding it is a not for profit, and offer options of contingency representation or hourly billing. Please call us so we can discuss these options and what may be the best fit for your community and its finances.
If you would like us on your team when dealing with construction defect matters or deficient installation, we start our analysis with an expert’s visual inspection and short report, gratis.
We then will meet and present to the Board our findings and recommendations.
Board
Presentation
of our findings and recommendations as to how those responsible may be legally compelled to pay for your damages and necessary repairs.
Preliminary Legal Analysis
of Organizational Documents (Declaration, Articles, Bylaws, any and all Amendments), Sample Unit/Home Sale Agreement, Prospectus (Disclosure Statement), Turnover Report, and Engineering Report (if any).
Confidential Peer Review
If a Law Firm was already hired we will perform a review of the pending litigation and advise your Board at a closed and Confidential Board Meeting as to how we would suggest to proceed in the best interest of the Community.