Hi Friends,
I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how lawsuits against architects work in the past.
For example, what happens when a consultant, like a structural engineer, makes an error which leads to significant monetary losses for the owner.
The owner will sue the architect, because their agreement is with the architect, not the engineer. However, the engineer will get pulled into the suit through subrogation.
Subrogation is a fancy word I just had a PM training meeting about and I thought I would go ahead and pass along that information here. You can get an overview of this word below: Subrogation Definition
You can also read more about Subrogation on page 1052 and in the index on pages 1136-1137 of the “Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice”.
Hope this helps!
-Darion
But the section on page 1052 refers to the “waiver of subrogation”. It assumes that the owner has insurance to deal with overall risk and/or consequential damages, etc. and that part of that insurance is the waiver of subrogation which would stop the insurance company from suing to get the money they paid out back. The example above makes it would like subrogation would protect the architect and that the suit would go to the engineer…not sure I understand.
Does the A201 waiver of subrogation apply to errors and omissions of the consultant?
Using your example above: Doesn’t the waiver prevent the Architect from going after the engineer?
@emilyepple I wonder if this waiver of subrogation plays into our conversation on the slip and fall of an architect’s employee (on a construction site). Meaning if the owner’s property insurance was to cover the slip and fall then the owner’s insurance could not sue the Contractor or Architect.
Hi Lawrence,
I do not believe the Waiver of Subrogation would apply to errors and omissions. This snip from the A201 states that the Waivers of Subrogation pertains to damages that are covered by property insurance:
Claims that arise due to Errors and Omissions are covered by professional liability insurance. The C401, Agreement between Architect and Consultant, does not have a Waivers of Subrogation clause. So as Darion stated above, if the structural engineer (a consultant of the architect) makes a mistake on the drawings that cause the owner monetary losses, the owner can sue the architect (since that is who they hold a contract with) and the engineers will be pulled into the lawsuit through subrogation by the architects insurance provider.
As far as the slip and fall conversation, I would think the waiver of subrogation would play into it if the scenario as you mentioned if the architect did not accept workers compensation. Tagging @coachchrishopstock again since this pertains to the other post as well!
@coachemilyepple I agree, and it’s really important to remember that the waiver of subrogation applies to damages that would be covered by property insurance or other insurance required for the project.
