The GRSM team of Jay Gregory and Eva Zelnick secured a significant victory on behalf of an architectural firm following a complex bench trial in the Business Litigation Session of the Suffolk Superior Court.
The plaintiff alleged that the architect negligently designed a replacement hospital project, asserting that the facility could not obtain unrestricted Medicare and Medicaid licensure because the exterior wall assembly allegedly failed to comply with applicable fire safety codes. The plaintiff sought between $5 million and $7 million in damages to remove and replace the building’s exterior cedar shingle cladding.
After trial, the court determined that the project’s fire and life safety code consultant, not the architectural firm, was negligent and breached its contractual obligations by failing to identify and advise of potential code compliance issues arising from inconsistencies within the applicable NFPA standards. While the court found the architectural firm vicariously liable for the consultant’s conduct, it rejected the plaintiff’s multimillion-dollar damages claim and awarded approximately $503,000 attributable to the consultant’s negligence.
The court further held that, pursuant to the parties’ contractual indemnity provisions, the code consultant is responsible for satisfying the damages award and for reimbursing both the plaintiff’s and the architectural firm’s attorneys’ fees and costs related to the exterior cladding claims.