Section 11 Duty to Supervise

• Library: Prof Liability 2005

In Aetna Insurance Co. v. Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, 392 F.2d 472 (8^th Cir. 1968), the Eighth Circuit held that “supervision of construction” are not words of art and are readily understood by laypersons with no need for assistance by an expert. Perhaps to avoid the issue of whether “supervision” is a term of art, the design professional has been careful in recent years not to agree to “supervise” the construction process in contract documents. For instance, the language in one standard AIA contract (B141, Standard Form of Architectural Services art. 2.6.2.1 (1997)) now refers to observation at “intervals appropriate to the stage of the contracting operations or as otherwise agreed by...