What Happens in a Construction Defect Claim
In a perfect world, a person that is constructing a new building, such as a residential home or retail shopping plaza, would have no need for the services of a construction expert witness. However, in the real world, not every construction project goes exactly to plan and the myriad of plumbing, electrical, and other systems can have problems. With these issues often comes a financial burden that the responsible party must carry. When a common consensus cannot be reached between the project owner and the contractor that carried out the work, litigation frequently ensues and a construction expert is brought in by the attorneys involved to examine the particulars of the defect claim.
Although the building owner will be working closely with the attorney to develop their case, they will frequently not have a great deal of interaction with the hired expert. This specialist will perform their own investigation into the problem and report their findings to the attorney. The expert will be well-versed in standards of care as well as the overall field of construction and will be able to see things that a non-professional could easily miss. In this capacity, the person will also be responsible for delivering their findings to a jury during the litigation as an expert witness. In pushing the owner’s claim, the combination of a competent attorney and expert witness will leave little doubt that the onus of the problem falls on the contractor.
At the same time, expert witnesses for construction litigation are not limited to just a building’s owner. There are many cases where a contractor followed plans correctly and all of their building techniques were adequate. In these situations, the contractor and their attorney will need to defend the defect claims. The same method of hiring an expert witness is used and a full investigation will be made. This means that the litigation efforts of both the prosecuting and defending attorney boil down to an argument between the expert witnesses and their understanding of the particular situation. The witness that has the more detailed and compelling testimony will often deliver the win to the attorney .
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