Smith v. Dabbs-Williams General Contractors, LLC

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that evidence that a hidden defect developed over time was not sufficient to establish that the defect existed at the time the work was accepted by the owner
• holding that the acceptance doctrine barred a claim against a contractor for a defective stairway when the property owner had accepted the construction work and the contractor “no longer exercised any control over” the facility it had built
• explaining that the acceptance doctrine applies to a negligent construction claim “if the defect is not hidden but readily observable on reasonable inspection” (citation and punctuation omitted)
• “‘Where the work of an independent contractor is completed, turned over to, and accepted by the owner, the contractor is not liable to third persons . . . .’” (citation omitted)
• “Unless the work performed by the contractor falls within an exception to the doctrine, ‘when the work is finished by (the contractor) and accepted by his employer, the liability of the (contractor

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).