Publication Date
12-1996
Document Type
Survey Article
Abstract
Last year's survey period focused on efforts to expand the passive concealment doctrine in construction cases and the parameters of arbitration under the Georgia Arbitration Code.
Substantively, with respect to expanding doctrines of fraud as they pertain to construction projects, the courts rejected attempts to impose liability for passive concealment in commercial settings. Historically, the doctrine of passive concealment has been applied to residential building relationships, but never in a commercial transaction. Part of the impetus behind this move is the fact that in a typical construction dispute involving economic damages, statutes of limitations begin to run upon performance, rather than discovery. This antagonism to discovery of concealed defects for purposes of limitations of actions carries over to discovery of concealed frauds as well. An exception has been carved out for residential home buyers who may not be in as good a position to make the type of inspection that a commercial owner can.
In the arbitration field, there were a number of cases during the survey period construing various portions of Georgia's recently adopted arbitration code, fleshing out the respective rights of the parties as governed by that code.
Recommended Citation
Morrissey, Brian J.
(1996)
"Construction Law,"
Mercer Law Review: Vol. 48:
No.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol48/iss1/7