Stevens & Lee Team Secures Unanimous Appellate Decision Protecting Architect Client in High Profile Facade Collapse Dispute
Representing design architects JMA Consultants, Inc., and JMA Consultants and Engineers, P.C. (JMA), the Stevens & Lee team of Salvatore A. Giampiccolo and John N. Visconi successfully argued for the New York Appellate Division to affirm judgment against claims brought by the Board of Managers of the St. Tropez Condominium (Board) that the client was liable for $4 million worth of damages caused by the crumbling facade of a New York condominium high-rise. The appellate success also protects the client from serious reputational damage from the reports of the accident covered by major news media.
The Board retained JMA to survey the facade of the 35-story St. Tropez Condominium in New York, prepare a repair program, and then inspect and certify the building as safe with the New York City Building Department. The Board limited JMA to observations from afar using binoculars prior to the repair program, which impacted JMA’s ability to diagnose the facade’s true condition. The Board also did not provide JMA with the extensive records from past repair programs and relevant recommendations by past engineers. After JMA performed its limited survey, but before the Board’s contractor could access all areas of the facade JMA identified as potentially needing repairs, a 14-foot by 60-foot section of facade above the 35th floor collapsed, damaging property below and closing East 64th Street during clean up. The metal pins installed during construction to support the bricks (more than 60 years before the accident) had corroded and failed. The condition of those pins could only have been diagnosed via invasive procedures that the Board did not allow JMA to perform.
Despite this, the Board sued JMA claiming negligence, professional malpractice and breach of contract. The Stevens & Lee team obtained dismissal of the negligence and malpractice claims early in the litigation. After discovery concluded, Stevens & Lee successfully secured judgment in JMA’s favor dismissing all remaining claims and requiring the Board to pay JMA its legal costs and fees, pursuant to indemnification provisions written into the contract by Stevens & Lee attorneys.
The Board appealed, but a five-justice panel of the New York Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the trial court’s decision and awarded JMA its costs of appeal. The Appellate Division agreed that the parties’ contracts restricted JMA’s ability to probe any perceived defects until after the repair project was completed. Without further testing or probing, the Court found JMA could not have identified the area in question as dangerous. The Court also upheld the indemnification provisions and mandated that the Board reimburse JMA for its legal fees for the litigation.
John N. Visconi argued the case before the Appellate Division and was on the brief.
