Canner v. Governors Ridge Assn., Inc.

Syllabus

Pursuant to the Common Interest Ownership Act (CIOA) (§ 47-249 (a)), condominium associations are ''responsible for maintenance, repair and replacement of the common elements'' of a common interest community, except to the extent provided by the community's declaration or pro- vided by, among other statutory provisions, General Statutes § 47-255 (h). The plaintiff G, the executor of the estate of his father, C, and, in the second case, the plaintiff L, brought separate actions against the defen- dant condominium association, alleging that the foundations supporting the units purchased by C and L were defective. L and C purchased the units, which were part of a common interest community, in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Around that time, the defendant began affirming its responsibility for any foundation settlement issues. C's and L's units thereafter suffered from significant, uneven settling. From 2012 to 2016, the defendant hired several companies to investigate the possibility of repairing the foundations underlying the units, but no repairs were ulti- mately made. G and L commenced their actions in 2016 and 2017, respec- tively, pursuant to statute (§ 47-278 (a)). The initial complaints alleged that the defendant had negligently designed and constructed the founda- tions and, thereafter, had violated its duties under § 47-249 (a) by failing to conduct necessary repairs to common elements of the community. The defendant asserted as a special defense that the CIOA claims were time barred by the statutory (§ 52-577) three year limitation period gener- ally applicable to tort actions. Thereafter, in 2018, G and L filed amended complaints that included the allegation that the defendant had breached its declaration and bylaws by failing to maintain, repair, or replace the defective foundations. After a hearing, the trial court concluded that the CIOA claims were time barred and rendered judgments for the defen- dants. The Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's judg