Case ID: va-cir_5/html/0050-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "By JUDGE WILLARD I. WALKER", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND
    J. West Construction Co., Inc. v. Beeson, Lusk, Jones, Inc.
    April 16, 1982
    Case No. LE-1095
   By JUDGE WILLARD I. WALKER

After considering the pleadings, arguments and memoranda of this case, I hold that defendant’s demurrer be sustained with prejudice.

The plaintiff's motion for judgment fails to state a cause of action on which relief may be granted. Assuming, as I must, that all allegations in plaintiff’s pleadings are true, they fail for the following reasons.

First, there is no duty owed by an architect to a subcontractor, unless a contractual duty exists; and there is no contractual duty alleged in this case. The architect's duty runs to the owner, not to the contractor or subcontractor.

Secondly, a general contractor is not considered a third-party beneficiary of an owner-architect contract, absent specific provisions providing otherwise. This same concept is applicable to a subcontractor who is one step further removed from the owner-architect contract, and therefore bars recovery.

For the above reasons, the demurrer is sustained with prejudice.