Oregon Ruling: Homeowner negligence claims for construction defect

Below is a recent case that deals with negligence and negligence per se. It's just a brief application of what we were discussing in class on Monday regarding negligence torts.

March 22, 2011
Homeowner may pursue negligence claim for construction defect, Oregon Supreme Court holds
By Ater Wynne LLP,
Oregon law firm

Last week the Oregon Supreme Court held that a homeowner seeking to recover against a builder for damages caused by construction defects may sue for common law negligence, absent a contractual provision that forecloses such a claim. In Abraham v. T. Henry Construction, Inc., plaintiff homeowners hired defendant contractors to build a house. When plaintiffs discovered defects in the construction years later, they sued for negligence.

The Court of Appeals held that the parties’ contractual relationship did not prevent a negligence claim, and that plaintiffs were entitled to pursue a negligence per se claim based on a violation of the Oregon Building Code.

The Supreme Court affirmed, but on a somewhat different basis. First, according to the Court, a construction defect claim concerns damage to property — and not mere economic losses — and thus is not barred by the economic loss doctrine. Second, the existence of a contract between plaintiff and defendant does not preclude a common law negligence claim for personal injury or property damage, unless the contract defines the parties’ obligations and remedies in such a way as to limit or foreclose such a claim. As a result, plaintiff is entitled to pursue a tort claim as long as the property damage at issue was a reasonably foreseeable result of defendant’s conduct. Plaintiff is not limited to a negligence per se claim.

http://oregonbusinessreport.com/2011/03/oregon-ruling-homeowner-negligence-claims-for-construction-defect/

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Senate voted Wednesday night to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, approving an explosive proposal that had rocked the state and unions nationwide after Republicans discovered a way to bypass the chamber's missing Democrats.

All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker's "budget-repair bill" — a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wisconsin_budget_unions

A new, proposed law in Tennessee could now get any followers of the Islamic Law known as Shariah up to 15 years in prison. Parts of this law include simple and almost universal rules and morals, such as the abstaining of theft or stealing. This law, which is being considered by about a dozen other states, also has practices of prayer, diets, and feet washing. This new law relates to the class in which we discussed discrimination, and spoke about the Japanese being taken into camps in the United States (such as Manzanar) during the World War II. Although we are not setting up camps for Shariah followers, the circumstances are similar. Back then, we were at war with the Japanese, and the government would not let them live among the other citizens of the U.S., and today, in the midst of the war for terror taking place in the Islamic world of the Middle East, a Tennessee bill may be passed that would punish followers of the Shariah Law. This idea, fear, or even paranoia still live on; I guess we aren't really saying farewell to Manzanar. This bill definitely needs reconsideration, not only because the Shariah Law conflicts with the U.S. Constitution, but also because we need to re-evaluate the fact that the U.S. is a melting pot of several cultures. Plus, if one were to argue that national security and protection are the roots of this bill, wouldn't this Tennessee bill infuriate these people and further destroy a positive image they have of the U.S? Just a thought.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-23-tennessee-law-shariah_N.htm

Vampire forecloses on bank

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https://officialguide.lsac.org/release/OfficialGuide_Default.aspx

Fox News' Lies Keep Them Out of Canada

Canadian regulators announced last week that they would reject Canada's right wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news. Canada's Radio Act requires that, "a licenser may not broadcast...any false, misleading news." When Stephen Harper went to abolish the anti-lying provision of the Radio Act, Canadians rose up against him fearing that the news there are used to getting would be replaced by biased, dishonest, and toxic news coverage familiar to American citizens who listen to Fox News and talk radio. Harper's proposal was to launch "Sun Tv News" which Canadians call "Fox News North."Harper is known to be a wizard of the tools of false patriotism, bigotry, fear, selfishness, and belligerent religiosity.

SOURCE: http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/276-74/5123-fox-news-lies-keep-them-out-of-canada

Posted by: Mohammad AlBader

Westboro Baptist Church

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects a fringe religious group that protested at the funeral of a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq.

The court, on an 8-1 vote, ruled that the soldier's father couldn't sue Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., for celebrating his son's death with vulgar funeral pickets and an online attack.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559604576176323629295598.html?mod=djemalertNEWS