Practice point: If a building was constructed in compliance with code specifications and industry standards applicable at the time, the owner is under no legal duty to modify the building thereafter in the wake of changed standards.
Practitioners should note that, for a plaintiff seeking damages for injuries suffered allegedly because of negligent building design, the legal issue is not whether there was a way to construct the building so as to avoid any possibility of persons being hurt; it is whether the building’s design violated safety standards in effect at the time it was built.
Case: Hotaling v. City of New York, NY Slip Op 07951 (1st Dept. 2008)
The opinion is here.
