A New York-based engineering firm is still on the hook for a negligence claim over an allegedly faulty athletic field design at Boston University because the action was purely contractual and not barred by state law, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held this week.
On Wednesday, the seven-judge panel for the state’s high court reversed a summary judgment order previously awarded to the consulting and engineering firm Clough, Harbour & Associates. Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt authored the opinion and said the state’s tort statute of repose, which eliminates a cause of action in tort six years after the opening of an improvement to real estate, could not bar the university from seeking over $25,000 in repair fees because the dispute between the parties is a contractual claim rather than a negligent tort claim.