Design Professional Liability for Construction Worksite Accidents - How Arkansas Led the way to a National Consensus

Three major developments underlie the law of architect or engineer (a/e) liability to construction workers, beginning in the second half of the twentieth century: (1) a change from a no-duty regime to a duty of care under a foreseeability test, (2) reactions to that expanded liability by changes to standard form documents by industry associations (in particular the American Institute of Architects (AIA)), (3) currently culminating in a broad national consensus. The Arkansas Supreme Court was instrumental in framing the issues of this jurisprudence early in its development and later contributed to its continued evolution.