§6-5-221. Limitation on time for commencement of action.

(a) All civil actions in tort, contract, or otherwise against any architect or engineer performing or furnishing the design, planning, specifications, testing, supervision, administration, or observation of any construction of any improvement on or to real property, or against builders who constructed, or performed or managed the construction of, an improvement on or to real property designed by and constructed under the supervision, administration, or observation of an architect or engineer, or designed by and constructed in accordance with the plans and specifications prepared by an architect or engineer, for the recovery of damages for:

(i) Any defect or deficiency in the design, planning, specifications, testing, supervision, administration, or observation of the construction of any such improvement, or any defect or deficiency in the construction of any such improvement; or

(ii) Damage to real or personal property caused by any such defect or deficiency; or

(iii) Injury to or wrongful death of a person caused by any such defect or deficiency;

shall be commenced within two years next after a cause of action accrues or arises, and not thereafter. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no relief can be granted on any cause of action which accrues or would have accrued more than seven years after the substantial completion of construction of the improvement on or to the real property, and any right of action which accrues or would have accrued more than seven years thereafter is barred, except where prior to the expiration of such seven-year period, the architect, engineer, or builder had actual knowledge that such defect or deficiency exists and failed to disclose such defect or deficiency to the person with whom the architect, engineer, or builder contracted to perform such service.

(b) This section shall apply to any civil action commenced against an architect, engineer, or builder as defined in this article, whether for his or her own act or omission or failure to act, for the act or omission or failure to act of his or her agents or employees, or for the act or omission or failure to act of any person or entity, its agents, or employees, who are acting under the instructions, control, or supervision of the architect, engineer, or builder.

(c) This section shall apply and extend to every action or demand, whether commenced by direct action, action for contribution or indemnity, or by counterclaim, cross-claim, or third party practice and whether commenced by an owner of the improvement or any other person.

(d) This section shall not apply to, shall not be a defense for, and does not proscribe a cause or right of action against any architect, engineer, or builder who, at the time the cause of action accrues or arises, is the owner or is in actual possession or control as owner, tenant, or otherwise of the improvement.

(e) When the architect, engineer, or builder has been the owner or the person in actual possession or control, in whatever capacity, of the improvement during the seven-year period after the substantial completion of construction of the improvement on or to real property, but not at the time the cause of action accrues or arises, the time of the ownership, possession, or control shall not be computed as a portion of the time necessary to create a bar for the action or of relief by virtue of the passage of time after the substantial completion of the improvement.

(Acts 1994, No. 94-138, p. 183, §2; Act 2011-519, p. 830, §1.)