Court Opinion

ID: 9549339
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:16:36.146812+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:10.337894
License: Public Domain

DUBOFSKY, Justice,
dissenting:
Because the ten year statute of limitations for actions against an architect under section 13-80-127, C.R.S.1973 does not apply to damages for wrongful death, I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion.
At the time the plaintiff filed a cross-claim against I.M. Pei & Partners, section 13-80-127 applied to “[a]ll actions against any architect, contractor, engineer, or inspector brought to recover damages for injury to person or property caused by the design, planning, supervision, inspection, construction, or observance of construction of any improvement to real property....” (emphasis added). In 1979, after this action was instituted,1 the Colorado General Assembly amended section 13-80-127 to include recovery of damages for wrongful death.2 When a statute is amended, there *830is a presumed intent to change the law. People v. Hale, 654 P.2d 849 (Colo.1982). Since 1877, damages for wrongful death in Colorado have been treated separately from damages for injury to person or property. Section 13-21-201, et seq., C.R.S.1973; Crownover v. Gleichman, 194 Colo. 48, 574 P.2d 497 (1977). The legislative extension of the architects’ statute of limitations to include actions involving wrongful death is a substantive amendment and not one merely attempting to clarify the meaning of the statute. See People v. Hale, supra. Therefore, I conclude that at the time this action arose, the architects’ ten year statute of limitations did not apply and that section 13-80-127 did not bar the plaintiff’s wrongful death claim.
The appropriate statute of limitations was found in section 13-21-204, C.R.S.1973, which provided: “All actions [for wrongful death] shall be brought within two years from the commission of the alleged negligence resulting in the death for which suit is brought.”3 This Court interpreted section 13-21-204, C.R.S.1973 to mean that the wrongful death statute of limitations did not commence to run until a latent defect caused the injury which resulted in death. DeCaire v. Public Service Company, 173 Colo. 402, 479 P.2d 964 (1971); but see Crownover v. Gleichman, supra. The plaintiff here filed his action for damages for wrongful death within the two year limitation in section 13-21-204, C.R.S.1973. See McClanahan v. American Gilsonite Company, 494 F.Supp. 1334, 1337 (D.Colo.1980). I believe that the district court erred in ruling that I.M. Pei & Partners are immune from suit.
I am authorized to say that Justice QUINN joins in this dissent.

. The plaintiffs wife died on May 17, 1977; the plaintiff filed an action against the Hilton Hotels Corporation on May 16, 1978; and on May 14, 1979, the plaintiff filed a cross-claim against the third-party defendants, the architects. The amendment to section 13-80-127, C.R.S.1973 (1982 Supp.) was effective on July 1, 1979.

. Section 13-80-127, C.R.S.1973 (1982 Supp.) provides:
“(l)(a) All actions against any architect, contractor, builder or builder vendor, engineer, or inspector performing or furnishing the design, planning, supervision, inspection, construction, or observation of construction of any improvement to real property shall be brought within two years after the claim for relief arises, . .. but in no case shall such an action be brought more than ten years after the substantial completion of the improvement to the real property. ...

(c) Such actions shall include any and all actions in tort, contract, indemnity, or contri*830bution or other actions for the recovery of damages for:
(I) Any deficiency in the design, planning, supervision, inspection, construction, or observation of construction of any improvement to real property; or
(II) Injury to real or personal property caused by any such deficiency; or
(III) Injury to or wrongful death of a person caused by any such deficiency.”

. The Colorado General Assembly amended section 13-21-204, applicable to cases commenced on or after June 7, 1979, as follows:
“All actions [for wrongful death] shall be brought within two years after the commission of the alleged negligence resulting in the death for which suit is brought or within one year after the death for which suit is brought, whichever is later.”
Section 13-21-204, C.R.S.1973 (1982 Supp.).