An air conditioning maintenance worker walking on an office building roof heard a crunching sound as he walked across the surface of the roof. Some areas actually gave way under foot. When the roof was opened, investigators discovered that the plywood structure had deteriorated. The building owner engaged us to recover the cost of replacing the roof. We sued the general contractor and architect who asserted that the roof was constructed of fire retardant treated plywood which complied with all applicable codes and which was an appropriate material for the application. The general contractor and architect claimed that they had no way of knowing that the FRT plywood would deteriorate prematurely. The matter was referred to mediation and was settled favorably. Our client recovered a significant portion of its repair costs and avoided the expense of taking the matter to trial.
