ASSEMBLY, No. 2188

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED JUNE 20, 1996

 

 

By Assemblymen DeCROCE and CHARLES

 

 

An Act concerning limitations on certain actions for damages and amending P.L.1967, c.59.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. Section 1 of P.L.1967, c.59 (C.2A:14-1.l) is amended to read as follows.

    1. No action whether in contract, in tort, or otherwise to recover damages for any deficiency in the design, planning, supervision or construction of an improvement to real property, or for any injury to property, real or personal or for an injury to the person, or for bodily injury or wrongful death, arising out of the defective and unsafe condition of an improvement to real property, nor any action for contribution or indemnity for damages sustained on account of such injury, shall be brought against any person performing or furnishing the design, planning, supervision of construction or construction of such improvement to real property, more than 10 years after the performance or furnishing of such services and construction. This limitation shall serve as a bar to all such claims, both governmental and private but shall not apply to any person in actual possession and control as owner, tenant, or otherwise, of the improvement at the time the defective and unsafe condition of such improvement constitutes the proximate cause of the injury or damage for which the action is brought.

    As used in this section the term "governmental" means the State, its political subdivisions, any office, department, division, bureau, board, commission or agency of the State or one of its political subdivisions, and any public authority or public agency, including but not limited to, the New Jersey Transit Corporation, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the University of Medicine and Dentistry.

(cf: P.L.1967, c.59, s.1)


    2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be applicable to all completed, pending and future improvements.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill amends N.J.S.A.2A:14-1.1 to provide that that section of law is applicable to all claims, both governmental and private. That section provides that damages for design deficiency or for bodily injury resulting from defective improvements to real property may not be brought more than 10 years after the performance or furnishing of such services and construction. The sponsor's intention is to clarify that the original and continuing intent of the Legislature is that this statute be applied equally to claims by both private citizens and public agencies.

 

 

                             

Bars public and private claims for certain deficiencies in improvements to real property after 10 years.