Damages Awards for Delay in Construction of Home and Alternate Living Arrangements Were Not Impermissibly Duplicative

Fisher Island Holdings, LLC v. Cohen, 983 So. 2d 1203 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2008)

In this residential construction case, an owner entered into a short-term lease because of substantial delays in the completion of his single family home.  The owner sued the contractor for delay, and the jury awarded the owner both delay damages and damages for alternative living arrangements.  The appellate court held that this was not a double recovery.  The jury permissibly awarded delay damages (measured by the rental value of the building under construction during the delay period) for the period of the contractor’s delay up to the commencement date of the owner’s nine month lease.  The jury then awarded alternative living damages for the duration of the lease.