Morrison Mahoney Partner Jessica Savino recently prevailed before the Massachusetts Appeals Court, who affirmed summary judgment in her clients’ favor on a construction defect claim involving multiple defendants and several consolidated cases.
The case arose from the demolition of our clients’ property, which the plaintiff alleged caused damage to her abutting building. Co-defendants included the general contractor, demolition subcontractor, construction consultant, and the Town that approved the demolition plan. The demolition contractor defaulted, and the remaining defendants eventually moved for summary judgment, each arguing both that they had no duty and that the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate causation.
The trial court’s decision was based solely on the question of causation, which the plaintiff averred was (a) a question of fact and (b) should be reconsidered because of alleged errors by her prior counsel. Given the number of defendants, Jessica was designated to argue the appeal on behalf of everyone except the town (which had a separate immunity argument). She argued that none of the appellee-defendants had any control over the demolition work and thus had no duty to the plaintiff, and also explained how the plaintiff – despite providing an expert report – had no evidence of causation beyond mere speculation.
The Appeals Court agreed, upholding summary judgment for all appellees based entirely on the lack of causation.
