An unpublished Appellate Division decision which went almost entirely unnoticed by the legal community last summer may have a significant impact in the realms of both construction law and products liability law involving products used in commercial and residential real estate construction projects. In Miles v. Deluxe Bldg. Systems, Inc ., 2009 WL 2224258 (App. Div. 2009), a plaintiff suffered personal injuries when the second story of his modular home collapsed, whereby he sued both the manufacturer and contractor. Because the home was constructed 18 years before the incident, the case fell within the purview of New Jersey’s Statute of Repose; N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1.1 (“SOR”). In a surprising decision which appears to depart from an earlier Supreme Court decision, the Miles court held that a product manufacturer can benefit from the immunity provided by the SOR.
New Jersey’s Statute of Repose holds that that no cause of action for injury or property damage may be stated arising from the “deficiency in the design, planning, surveying, supervision or construction of an improvement to real property … more than 10 years after the performance or furnishing of such services and construction.” Daidone v. Buterick Bulkheading, 191 N.J. 557 (2007). Hence, contractors, architects, designers, engineers and surveyors are immune from suits arising from negligence in the design or construction of an improvement to real property 10 years after the completion of construction. Newark Beth Israel v. Gruzen , 124 N.J. 357, 362 (1991). In other words, a contractor is completely immune from liability once 10 years has passed from the completion of construction, no matter how negligent or irresponsible they were.
