The Standard of Care For Design Professionals
Standard of Care for Design Professionals
This article provides a nice summary of the issue as follows:
"... We know from ... many [court decisions] throughout the country, that DPs are not expected, or legally required, to be perfect. What this means as a practical matter is that if a DP performs its professional services for a client without any written contract or pursuant to a contract that contains no standard of care clause, the courts will hold the DP to the standard of care that is determined by expert testimony to be that which is the generally accepted standard of care applicable to the services.
Failure to meet the generally accepted standard of care is deemed to be negligence. Professional liability insurance policies are intended to provide coverage to protect the design professional against claims arising out of its negligent performance. Thus, the negligent act, error or omission is covered by insurance.
The fact that clients of DPs often seek, via contract language, to require the DP to agree to something greater than the generally accepted standard of care creates uninsurable risks and liabilities."
Please read the full article for proper context for this excerpt
Check out these links for additional information and details:
ACEC: Do You Know The Standard of Care?
There is a very good summary of the standard of care
Perfection Not Required: Beware Standard-of-Care Contract Clause Traps
The United States Legal System
Negligence/Professional Liability
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