Courts and legislatures in many states require plaintiffs to file an expert affidavit or certificate of merit at the beginning of a malpractice case, including claims against architects, engineers, and other design professionals. These requirements often function as early gatekeeping tools, allowing defendants to seek early dismissal. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, however, may limit the impact of those statutes in federal court and change litigation strategy in design\u2011professional cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As my Duane Morris colleagues explained in an Alert<\/a><\/em> on January 22, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court in Berk v. Choy<\/a><\/em> ruled that state affidavit\u2011of\u2011merit requirements do not apply in federal court, and that reasoning is not limited to medical malpractice cases\u2014it may also affect similar rules for other licensed professionals. This means that people bringing malpractice claims against architects and engineers in federal court may no longer need to file the expert affidavit that many states require at the start of a case, making it easier for those claims to move forward and removing an early\u2011dismissal tool for defendants. It may also change how strict filing deadlines, like statutes of repose, work in federal court, because a case is considered started as soon as the complaint is filed. The decision makes federal court a more appealing option for plaintiffs and shifts how design\u2011professional malpractice cases are handled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For design professionals, insurers, and others in the construction industry, this shift raises important considerations. Removal to federal court may now eliminate a key procedural defense that would otherwise be available in state court. As courts begin applying Berk<\/em> beyond the medical\u2011malpractice context, parties should expect meaningful differences between state and federal practice in professional\u2011liability cases and adjust their litigation strategies accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jose A. Aquino<\/a> (@JoseAquinoEsq<\/a> on X) is a special counsel at Duane Morris LLP’s New York office, where he is a member of Construction Group<\/a>, specializing in construction law, lien law, and government procurement law.<\/em><\/em> He is also a member of the Cuba Business Group<\/a><\/em><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This blog is prepared and published for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Duane Morris LLP or its individual attorneys.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Courts and legislatures in many states require plaintiffs to file an expert affidavit or certificate of merit at the beginning of a malpractice case, including claims against architects, engineers, and other design professionals. These requirements often function as early gatekeeping tools, allowing defendants to seek early dismissal. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, however, may … <\/p>\n Continue reading “Supreme Court Shifts Design\u2011Professional Malpractice Claims Toward Federal Court”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[884,593,883],"ppma_author":[699],"class_list":["post-792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-design-professional-malpractice","tag-jose-a-aquino","tag-statutes-of-repose"],"authors":[{"term_id":699,"user_id":66,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jaaquino","display_name":"Jose A. Aquino","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2014\/07\/aquinojose-125x150.jpg","author_category":"","last_name":"Aquino","first_name":"Jose A.","job_title":"","user_url":"http:\/\/www.duanemorris.com\/attorneys\/joseaaquino.html","description":"Read Jose's bio.<\/a>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/constructionlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}