The plaintiff condominium corporation discovered three serious construction defects relating to fire safety in its buildings.
One defect was discovered in 1993, while the other two were not discovered until 1996.
The defendant municipality, which negligently inspected the buildings, argued that the discovery of the first defect triggered the limitation period for all defects arising from the same negligent inspection, rendering the entire claim statute-barred.
The Court of Appeal held that independently discoverable construction defects caused by a single act of negligence give rise to separate causes of action.
Because the interior defects could not have been reasonably discovered when the exterior defect was found, the limitation period for the interior defects ran separately and the claim was not statute-barred.
