Construction Law Group Assignment PDF

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March 27, 2019 Florenz Peter Fernandez 101121165 Kim Jae Hun 101106433 Group Assignment Construction Law New Residential Condominium in Toronto Designer: ABC Engineers Owner: DEF Corp. Question: A. What can Paul sue ABC Engineers for? In other words, when he sues ABC Engineers, what are the legal claims that he can make against ABC Engineers? Paul can sue ABC Engineers for negligent misrepresentation because ABC Engineers had made a mistake in their calculations on their engineering drawings. They submitted those engineering drawings with wrong calculations to the DEF Corp. One part of the story that is very important here is that one of the engineers from ABC noticed that the calculations are wrong prior to submission of drawings. One of the engineers of ABC expressed his concern about the inadequacy of structural support as a result of wrong calculations and warned DEF Corp., but he failed to tell his superior about this. ABC Engineers, along with him, is still found liable for failure in this duty of care. Therefore, negligent representation is still the reason for Paul to sue ABC Engineers due to their negligence of their duty of care, and that engineer who warned DEF Corp. about this is still liable of negligence of his duty of care. B. To success in his claim, what must Paul prove? Paul must prove that false statements, false calculations in this case, were made recklessly or negligently. This was done during ABC Engineer’s design process, just prior to submission of design plans. Paul must prove that at the time the event happened, ABC Engineers could have reasonably foreseen that their wrong calculations could result to loss of adequate structural support and could make Paul suffer an injury or loss, which is his loss of condominium unit, some destroyed furnitures, injured/broken arm, and life-threatening injuries.

Paul must show that ABC Engineers did not meet the standard of care nor responsibilities expected of themselves in their Structural Engineering position, because the whole team of engineers in ABC must check their calculations carefully before submitting the drawings and not just one engineer. That one engineer who knew this and told the DEF Corp. about it could have consulted his company so that the submission of those drawings with wrong calculations could have been prevented. Paul must show that ABC Engineers’ failure to meet their standard of care was the legal cause of the loss suffered by Paul himself. The fact that ABC Engineers Team have neglected their job to double check for wrong calculations and allowed DEF Corp. to use these calculations for the project resulted to the collapse of the building, resulting to Paul’s physical injury and loss of property. C. What can Paul sue DEF Corp for? In other words, when he sues DEF Corp., what are the legal claim (s) that he can make against DEF Corp.? Paul can sue DEF Corp. for fraudulent misrepresentation because DEF Corp. told Paul that the calculations are correct despite the fact that it is incorrect. The legal claims that he can make against DEF Corp. must prove that the DEF Corp. knew about the incorrect calculations and it must prove that the DEF Corp. provided him a wrong information. Paul can also sue DEF Corp. for omission misrepresentation, a subset of fraudulent misrepresentation but more specific, because DEF Corp. failed to do something about the incorrect calculations. D. Paul’s claim against ABC Engineers is for $1 million. What court should he NOT start his claim in? He should not start his claim in small claims court, for small claims court only allows an award limit of $25,000. E. Paul co-owned the condominium unit with his brother Sam as joint tenants. Paul ends up dying as a result of his injuries. What happens to his ownership interest in the condominium? Because his brother is Sam and they have a joint tenancy fee simple right in their condominium unit (real property), Sam would automatically inherit the ownership interest of Paul in the condominium in the event of Paul’s death. Sam will carry out the claim or charges against ABC Engineers and DEF Corp., and Sam must have access to whatever information Paul had gathered to support his case against those two companies.

F. Paul’s furniture was destroyed in the collapse. What type of property is furniture? The type of property that furniture belongs to is a personal property because it is not attached to the land but it is inside the building. It is part of a tangible personal property. It can be moved in and moved out.

G. What type of representation did DEF Corp. make to Paul about the safety of the condominium? The type of misrepresentation the DEF Corp. made to Paul about the safety of the condominium is FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION. It is an intentional tort because the DEF Corp. had opportunity to correct the incorrect calculations when the ABC Engineers told them about it, but chooses not to correct the calculations. Those incorrect calculations resulted to lack of adequate support for the structure. DEF Corp told Paul that the building is “safe” and everything is alright, while knowing that the calculations are wrong and needed correction.

REFERENCES Samuels, B.M. & Sanders D.R. (2016). Chapter 1 The Canadian Legal System. Practical Law of Architecture, Engineering and Geoscience. Toronto: Pearson Canada. Samuels, B.M. & Sanders D.R. (2016). Chapter 5 Business Organizations. Practical Law of Architecture, Engineering and Geoscience. Toronto: Pearson Canada. Samuels, B.M. & Sanders D.R. (2016). Chapter 6 Contracts. Practical Law of Architecture, Engineering and Geoscience. Toronto: Pearson Canada. Samuels, B.M. & Sanders D.R. (2016). Chapter 12 Torts. Practical Law of Architecture, Engineering and Geoscience. Toronto: Pearson Canada....