Legal Question in Construction Law in Illinois

I replaced my plumbing with pcp pipe in 2005. No standpipe outside Got a clog this year. My pipes run in crawl space under house. Friend went under to check and said the company i hired did not complete piping replacement. Does anyone know if I can still take any legal action or is it too late?


Asked on 10/07/10, 9:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Here's the problem. TIme is less the issue than the amount at stake. If it's only a few hundred more to finish things off the way they should have been, you'll spend as much if not more in filing the case and then having to go to court because you can be sure the company will try to dismiss it for being too late even if it isn't. And if you lose it's all or nothing. So if the company's still around I'd see if they even remember the job and whether they'd come take a look see because it's in your crawl space and never knew til now there was even an issue....

PS normally for oral contracts 5 years and written 10 but for construction of "improvements" on real estate it's 4 years from when you knew or should have known there was any issue, with the latest time being 9 years for oral contracts and 14 years for written contracts, but it can be as short as 4 for oral OR written if you should have known about the problem from day one that the job was done... If a problem is latent the "should have known" standard usually applies.

While I am an active member of the Illinois Bar, this Answer is intended solely as a courtesy to the Questioner based on an incomplete set of facts, so that the Questioner can be encouraged to obtain proper and complete legal advice based on all of the necessary facts.

This is not meant as a definitive answer but a general narrative to assist you in heading in the right direction. Any law cited or referred to specifically or generally may or may not apply to a specific set of facts. We nevertheless hope this is of some help to you.

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Answered on 10/13/10, 8:20 pm


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