The Seventy-first General Assembly convened on January 11, 2017, and shortly thereafter the first bill relating to construction defects was introduced. SB 17-045 was introduced by Senators Grantham and Williams and has bipartisan support in both the senate and house. This bill requires a court, when hearing a construction defect case in which there is more than one insurer, to apportion the costs of the defense of the lawsuit to those insurers on proportionate basis. The court may make an initial finding at the outset of the case and revise the order upon completion.
We believe this to be the first of what could be many bills aimed at construction defect reforms. We will keep our eyes on this and all other legislation as it is introduced.