SF 2468

1st Engrossment - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 05/14/2018 05:16pm

A bill for an act
relating to civil actions; regulating actions for damages based on services or
construction to improve real property; providing for a limitation on actions;
amending Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 541.051, subdivision 1.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 541.051, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Limitation; service or construction of real property; improvements.

(a) Except where fraud is involved, no action by any person in contract, tort, or otherwise
to recover damages for any injury to property, real or personal, or for bodily injury or
wrongful death, arising out of the defective and unsafe condition of an improvement to real
property, shall be brought against any person performing or furnishing the design, planning,
supervision, materials, or observation of construction or construction of the improvement
to real property or against the owner of the real property more than two years after discovery
of the injury the cause of action accrues, as specified in paragraph (c), nor in any event shall
such a cause of action accrue more than ten years after substantial completion of the
construction. Date of substantial completion shall be determined by the date when
construction is sufficiently completed so that the owner or the owner's representative can
occupy or use the improvement for the intended purpose.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), an action for contribution or indemnity arising out
of the defective and unsafe condition of an improvement to real property may be brought
no later than two years after the cause of action for contribution or indemnity has accrued,
regardless of whether it accrued before or after the ten-year period referenced in paragraph
(a), provided that in no event may an action for contribution or indemnity be brought more
than 14 years after substantial completion of the construction.

(c) For purposes of determining only when the statute of limitations begins to run pursuant
to paragraph (a), a cause of action accrues: (1) for a bodily injury or wrongful death action,
upon discovery of the injury; and (2) for an action for injury to real or personal property,
upon discovery of the injury, but in no event does a cause of action accrue earlier than
substantial completion, termination, or abandonment of the construction or the improvement
to real property. For purposes of paragraph (b), a cause of action for contribution or indemnity
accrues upon the earlier of commencement of the action against the party seeking contribution
or indemnity, or payment of a final judgment, arbitration award, or settlement arising out
of the defective and unsafe condition.

(d) Nothing in this section shall apply to actions for damages resulting from negligence
in the maintenance, operation or inspection of the real property improvement against the
owner or other person in possession.

(e) The limitations prescribed in this section do not apply to the manufacturer or supplier
of any equipment or machinery installed upon real property.

EFFECTIVE DATE.

This section is effective the day following final enactment and
applies to causes of action accruing on or after that date.