Practice Areas

Construction Defect Litigation    1|2|3|4

Although there have still been occasions in which Mr. Browne has been required to try construction defect cases, both to judges and to juries, in which he has never failed to either obtain a judgment or verdict or settle a case after the commencement of trial, the vast majority - probably 90% - of the construction defect cases he has handled have settled to the satisfaction of the HOA prior to trial, usually under the auspices of a Special Master Appointed by the court to manage the case. A Special Master will issue a series of pretrial orders that will focus a given case towards a cost effective resolution that benefits all parties and frequently allows Mr. Browne to handle a complex construction defect case without having to bring on another lawyer or lawyers to assist him, although such lawyers are unhesitatingly brought in whenever needed.

For example, the Special Master will typically place a stay on expensive and time consuming discovery proceedings such as depositions, interrogatories and document production requests. Instead, the Special Master will order all parties to place copies of all relevant and non-privileged documents into a document depository, which any attorney may visit and efficiently assemble his or her documentary evidence. Proceeding in this manner can save greatly on litigation costs, since there are frequently hundreds of pages of documents that must be reviewed in construction defect cases.

Similarly, a Special Master can save parties time and money by ordering the production of insurance policies, schedule site inspections, monitor destructive testing, schedule settlement meetings and attempt to mediate differences between the parties.