Missed the Starting Gun? Application of the Statute of Repose in Construction and Defective Product Cases

On April 30, 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided State of New Jersey v. Perini Corporation, et al., which is likely to become a seminal case on how the ten-year limitations period of New Jersey’s Statute of Repose is applied in construction cases, in particular those involving multi-phase projects. The Perini case is also noteworthy for its ruling that the statute of repose does not apply to claims against manufacturers and suppliers of allegedly defective materials supplied on a project.