City School Dist. of City of Newburgh v. Hugh Stubbins & Associates, Inc.

• Decision Date: 02 May 1995
• Citation: 85 N.Y.2d 535,650 N.E.2d 399,626 N.Y.S.2d 741
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: , 650 N.E.2d 399 CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF CITY OF NEWBURGH, Appellant, v. HUGH STUBBINS & ASSOCIATES, INC., et al., Respondents.

Page 741

626 N.Y.S.2d 741

85 N.Y.2d 535, 650 N.E.2d 399

CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF CITY OF NEWBURGH, Appellant, v. HUGH STUBBINS & ASSOCIATES, INC., et al., Respondents.

Court of Appeals of New York.

May 2, 1995.

[85 N.Y.2d 536] [650 N.E.2d 400] Bouck, Holloway, Kiernan and Casey, Albany (John R. Casey and David B. Cabaniss, of counsel), for appellant.

Morris, Graham, Stephens & McMorrow, Westbury (Thomas J. Graham and Gerald P. McMorrow, of counsel), for Hugh Stubbins & Associates, Inc., respondent.

Appelbaum, Eisenberg, Bauman & Appelbaum, Liberty (Harold J. Bauman, of counsel), for Solart Builders, Inc., respondent.

[85 N.Y.2d 537] L'Abbate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini, Garden City (Anthony P. Colavita and Harry Makris, of counsel), for Van Zelm, Heywood & Shadford, respondent.

Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker, New York City (David L. Wong, of counsel), for George Silverman, respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT

KAYE, Chief Judge.

When a defectively assembled pipe fitting bursts, damaging a library's book collection, can the library sue those responsible for design and construction of the building some 15 years earlier? Because the rule is settled that an owner's cause of action accrues against a builder upon completion of construction, and we perceive no basis to apply a different rule where a cause of action rests on damage to personal rather than real property, we conclude that plaintiff's cause of action was time-barred.

In 1972 or 1973, the Urban Development Corporation agreed to assist the Newburgh School District in the design, financing and construction of a library. The City of Newburgh Urban Renewal Agency transferred title to a parcel of property to the UDC, which entered into contracts to construct the building with defendants Solart Builders, Inc. as general contractor, Hugh Stubbins & Associates, Inc. as architect, and Van Zelm, Heywood & Shadford as mechanical and electrical engineers. Upon completion of construction in late 1975, UDC sold the building to plaintiff.

Within the structure of the building was a copper pipe fitted with a steel plug, which began a gradual chemical corrosion of the integrity of the pipe. Fifteen years later, on October 13, 1990, a water pipe in the library burst, causing plaintiff to suffer $1,500,000 damage to personal property--including books, bookshelves, and office supplies and furnishings--and $500,000 damage to its real property. When plaintiff brought suit against defendants alleging five causes of action rooted in negligence, Supreme Court dismissed the complaint, upon motion of the defendants, as barred by the Statute of Limitations since a cause of action for defective construction and design generally accrues upon completion of construction. The Appellate Division affirmed, as do we.

In cases against architects or contractors, the accrual date for Statute of Limitations purposes is completion of performance (Sosnow v. Paul, 36 N.Y.2d 780, 369 N.Y.S.2d 693, 330 N.E.2d 643; see also, State of New York v. Lundin, 60 N.Y.2d 987, 471 N.Y.S.2d 261, 459 N.E.2d 486; Cabrini Med. Ctr. v. Desina, 64 N.Y.2d 1059, 489 N.Y.S.2d 872, 479 N.E.2d 217). We made clear in Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Enco Assocs., 43 N.Y.2d 389, 401 N.Y.S.2d 767, 372 N.E.2d 555 that no matter how a claim is characterized in the complaint--negligence, malpractice, breach of contract--an owner's claim arising out of defective construction accrues on date of completion, since all liability has its genesis in the contractual relationship of the parties.

Plaintiff...