DAYTONA BEACH — An attorney for a Florida man involved in a construction defection case has spoken out after the 5th District Court of Appeal for the state of Florida ruled in his favor.
Timing was the main issue in the appeal after the Circuit Court for Lake County dismissed Timothy Busch’s claims of “alleged construction defects" against Lennar Homes LLC. The lower court said the 10-year statute of repose had ran out when Busch filed the lawsuit. But the appeals court overturned that decision, stating that the statute of repose time frame might not have ended by the time Busch filed the complaint.
Matthew L. Wilson of Burnett Wilson Reeder in Tampa was one of the lawyers who represented Busch and discussed the ruling.
“The case really comes down to whether or not the contract (between Lennar Homes and Busch) was completed on Aug. 31, 2005, or sometime after that,” Wilson told the Florida Record. “That’s what the discovery process will ultimately bear out. The lower court cut us off so early we never really got to that stage.”
He said the true telling point will be whether the evidence shows Lennar Homes did not work on the home after the closing date, something that he said he finds hard to believe.
“The next step is I’m sure Lennar wants to end things as quickly as possible and get back in front of the court for the summary judgement," Wilson said. "So I’m going to need to do some discovery and find out it if there was construction before that date in 2005. Maybe we can solve the case before then if both parties can decide there are potential issues later down the road. If we can get past that, and there’s a trial, I would take on a jury any day.”
Wilson said he’s confident of a victory in front of a jury, which will most likely not shut down Busch’s defection claim against Lennar Homes simply because he filed too late.