Homeowners urge Legislature to restore negligence remedy after 2023 Applebee ruling; architects and engineers warn of insurance and housing impacts

Sponsors and witnesses split the committee hearing on Senate Bill 185 along predictable lines: homeowners and some builders urged the committee to restore what they described as decades of Colorado law allowing an original home purchaser to sue construction professionals in negligence; design professionals and their trade groups said the bill would overturn long-standing rules, disrupt contract risk allocation and worsen insurance and housing affordability problems.

What the bill would do: Sponsors said SB185 would make explicit that construction professionals — including subcontractors, architects and engineers — owe an independent duty of care to homeowners that gives rise to negligence claims whether the buyer is the first purchaser or a subsequent purchaser. Sponsors framed the measure as restoring earlier case-law and legislative intent after an appellate decision in 2023 (Applebee) has been used to limit negligence claims by original purchasers.

Homeowner testimony: Multiple homeowners described long, costly defect fights they said would have been harder to resolve under Applebee. Catherine (Kip) Brown Hoekstra and Janine Musser testified that they faced significant foundation, drainage and construction defects…