The Duties Of Contractors Involved In Design And Construction

The recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in O'Dowda v. Halpenny et al. is a useful reminder of the duties of contractors, subcontractors, architects and engineers who take part in the design and construction of buildings.

In this case, the plaintiffs purchased a house in 2003 from the defendants. They discovered structural problems soon afterwards. They obtained an expert report in late 2003. One of the problems disclosed by the report had to do with the load bearing ability of the roof.

They sued the vendors and commissioned a further report, which was prepared in early 2005, identifying further problems and raising safety concerns about the roof.

In March 2006, at his examination for discovery, one of the vendors testified that the house had been designed by G.S. Morton & Associates Ltd. The Morton firm also prepared the working drawings. Later that year, the purchasers added the Morton firm as an additional defendant alleging that it had been