Liability of Contractors to State Transportation Departments for Latent Defects in Construction after Project Acceptance

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Legal Research Digest 39: Liability of Contractors to State Transportation Departments for Latent Defects in Construction after Project Acceptance describes and analyzes the responses to a questionnaire submitted to state DOTs. This information should help attorneys, administrators, engineers, contracting officers, and financial officials be prepared for situations where latent defects are discovered after the construction project has been completed and accepted.

The paper is organized as follows:
(I) Introduction;
(II) Scope of Report;
(III) Background of Research Effort for the Report;
(IV) Results of the Survey of State Departments of Transportation;
(V) Historical Perspective of Latent Defects;
(VI) Legal Principles and Typical Situations Involved in Latent Defect Matters; and
(VII) Conclusion.