TABLE OF CONTENTS As is evident from the discussion in Sec. 16.4, the single point of responsibility feature of design-build will impose liability on the design-builder for design problems. The more challenging question that arises, however, is the extent of liability of the A/E as a member of the design-build team. The few cases that have dealt with this subject to date suggest that the potential liability may be substantial. Importantly, the cases have based liability findings on breaches by the A/E of express and implied warranties of performance.
One of the major cases establishing A/E liability for design errors based on express contractual warranties is Arkansas Rice Growers v. Alchemy Industries, Inc. [64] This case involved the construction of a pollution-free rice hull combustion plant capable of generating steam and marketable ash from the rice hull fuel. Rice hulls were required to be the sole fuel for the plant furnace. The contract between the developer of this process and the contractor (who was also the ultimate owner of the plant) required that the engineer provide
the necessary engineering plant layout and equipment design and the onsite engineering supervision and start-up engineering services necessary for the construction of a hull by-product facility capable of reducing a minimum of 712 tons of rice hulls per hour to an ash and producing a minimum of 48 million BTU s per hour of steam at 200 pounds pressure. [65]
The plant never performed properly, repeatedly shutting down because of the...
