Legal Question in Construction Law in New York
Construction / Certification
After winning a lengthy Arbitrartion against a homeowner(House construction) and collecting, do I as a contractor have a case to now go after the architect . He (the architect) never certified(in writing) that just cause existed for the owner to terminate a contract with me.(as per the aia contract requirements) The owner stated during arbitration testimony that he relied on the architects certification (although Architect never put it in writing-nothing, nor any valid reasons) to terminate the contract.
I spent close to 200k to arbitrate I collected 295K I feel the architect should be liable for the 200k for damges I should have never occured??
I appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Construction / Certification
You do not have a contract with the architect, and he owed you no duty of any kind. It's unfortunate that your legal expenses swallowed the award: the answer is to require the loser to pay the winner's attorneys' fees. But chasing the architect is fruitless, especially since his failure to certify that cause existed could have grounded an early motion for summary judgment (which the AAA rules permit, though Jams does not).
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