Black & Vernooy Architects v. Smith

August 5, 2011

The holding in the Court of Appeals confirms that an architect performing contract administration for an owner pursuant to the standard language in a 1997 AIA B141 form contract owed no duty to third parties to discover construction defects created by a contractor. San Antonio Partner Scott Lyford and Associate Richard Lindner served as trial counsel for the architect in the Travis County Trial Court, which resulted in a verdict assessing only 10 percent of the fault for plaintiff’s injury against the architect. The holding of the appellate court reversed the judgment in favor of the plaintiffs in finding that the architect owed them no duty.