Montara Owners Association v. La Noue Development, LLC

Construction-defect case brought by a condominium owners association against the developer-general contractor and various subcontractors and architects. The Oregon Supreme Court (Balmer, C.J.) decided three issues: (1) overbroad indemnification clauses in a construction agreement that violate ORS 30.140 are partially void rather than entirely void — the clause is enforceable to the extent ORS 30.140 permits, not stripped from the contract altogether; (2) instructing a jury on diminution in market value as a measure of damages absent evidence of property-value loss was error, but harmless on this record because the jury's damages award (~$43,711) aligned with the repair-cost evidence rather than speculative diminution; (3) a party may seek attorney fees as consequential damages for breach of contract under the third-party-litigation exception even when those fees were incurred in the same action rather than in separate prior litigation.