Patricia Dighton & Others v. Federal

In tort actions with respect to a circuit breaker panel manufactured by the defendant and located in a building which was destroyed by fire, the Judge did not err in dismissing the defendant's third-party complaint seeking contribution from the building's architect, against whom the plaintiffs' claims were barred by G. L. c. 260, § 2B, a statute of repose limiting the time within which an action in tort against the architect might have been brought. [691-692] Application of G. L. c. 260, § 2B, a statute of repose, to bar a defendant in certain tort actions from seeking contribution did not abridge its right to a remedy by recourse to the laws, as guaranteed by art. 11 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, absent a claim by the defendant that § 2B operated to deny it any fundamental right, or any right against a third-party defendant that vested prior to the enactment of § 2B. [692-693]