Traub Lieberman Partner Lisa M. Rolle obtained summary judgment in favor of defendant, a family-owned and operated fire sprinkler company

Traub Lieberman Partner Lisa M. Rolle obtained summary judgment in favor of defendant SRI Fire Sprinkler, LLC, a family-owned and operated fire sprinkler company. The judgment was determined pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(5) on the grounds that Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company’s (Plaintiff) negligent construction claim accrued on the date when work was completed at the premises, not on the date of the incident as alleged in the Plaintiff’s complaint. In the underlying subrogation action, the Plaintiff commenced the action in subrogation of its insured, Bet Am Shalom Synagogue (Bet Am), to recover damages in excess of $173,390.86 which it allegedly paid to Bet Am for water damage cleanup and remodeling after certain sprinkler pipes froze and burst in the recently constructed wing of the Westchester synagogue on January 1, 2019, and January 7, 2019. The Plaintiff alleged that its subrogor, Bet Am, sustained interior water damage on the first floor and basement levels of the premises.

The Plaintiff contended that its subrogation action accrued when the property damage was sustained in January 2019. Traub Lieberman moved to dismiss the Plaintiff’s complaint entirely, as New York courts have long held that a cause of action based on an alleged defective construction or design accrues on the date of completion of construction and not on the date of the alleged injury or date of payment. Therefore, a subrogee may have its claim dismissed based upon the action or inaction of its subrogor[1]. The Court agreed and dismissed the Plaintiff’s complaint in its entirety.

[1] Allstate Insurance Co, 1 N.Y.3d 416 at 423 (2004); Winkelmann v. Excelsior Insurance Co., 85 N.Y.2d 577, 650 N.E.2d 841, 626 N.Y.S.2d 994 (1995); Krause v. American Guaranty & Liability Insurance Co., 22 N.Y.2d 147, 239 N.E.2d 175, 292 N.Y.S.2d 67 (1968); Exchange Mutual Indemnity Insurance

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