State v. Perini Corporation, A-3268-10T4; Appellate Division; opinion by Ashrafi, J.A.D.; decided and approved for publication March 30, 2012. Before Judges A.A. Rodríguez, Sabatino and Ashrafi. On appeal from the Law Division, Mercer County, L-1144-08. DDS No. 43-2-5746 [28 pp.]
The state appeals from an order for summary judgment dismissing its civil complaint for money damages against four contractors that took part in the building of South Woods State Prison in the mid-1990s. The system that distributes hot water throughout South Woods State Prison began failing a few years after construction of the prison was completed. The state filed its lawsuit on April 28, 2008. That date was more than 10 years after most of the facilities at South Woods State Prison were put into use and prisoners were housed there, but it was three days short of 10 years from the date that the state issued the last of its certificates of substantial completion on the project. Applying the 10-year statute of repose for construction litigation, N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1.1, the trial court concluded that the state had not filed a timely complaint against the contractors.
