A Construction Law Update
01/24/07
Washington Supreme Court Overturns the Completion and Acceptance Rule
Is a contractor always potentially liable for negligent work on a construction project?
Under the completion and acceptance doctrine — long recognized by Washington courts — the
answer was no. Once the contractor completed work and that work was accepted by the property
owner, the contractor could no longer be liable for injury to third parties.
Last week, the Washington Supreme Court rejected the completion and acceptance rule in Davis
v. Baugh Industrial Contractors, Inc.
Baugh was the general contractor responsible for building a network of subterranean pipes for a
processing facility belonging to Glacier Northwest. A subcontractor, E.J. Rody & Sons, Inc.,
installed on-site utilities and underground piping.
The project was completed in April 1997, and the property owner, Glacier Northwest, accepted
the work.
In 2000, Glacier Northwest suspected a leak in one of the underground pipes and excavated an
area for investigation. The foreman of the crew entered the excavated hole. Several cement
blocks fell, pinning him to the ground. He later died of his injuries. His daughter, as personal
representative of his estate, sued Baugh and others for negligence.
Relying on the completion and acceptance doctrine, the Superior Court granted summary
judgment dismissing plaintiff’s claims.
On appeal, the Washington Supreme Court reversed, and held that the completion and
acceptance doctrine was “outmoded, incorrect, and harmful,” and joined 37 other states that have
rejected it.
Instead, the Court adopted the Restatement of Torts approach and held that “a builder or
construction contractor is liable for injury or damage to a third person as a result of negligent
work, even after completion and acceptance of that work, when it was reasonably foreseeable
that a third person would be injured due to that negligence.”
The Court also noted that, under RCW 4.16.310, Washington has a statute of repose that
“terminates a negligence claim six years after ‘substantial completion of construction,’ even if
the injury caused by contractor negligence has not yet occurred.”
The net result is that contractors may be liable to third parties for reasonably foreseeable injuries
due to negligent work that occurred during the six-year period following completion of the work.
For more information, please contact the Construction Law Practice Group at Lane Powell:
206.223.7000 Seattle
503.778.2100 Portland
lppc@lanepowell.com
www.lanepowell.com
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