Defined term
Spearin doctrine
The Spearin doctrine holds that an owner who supplies plans and specifications impliedly warrants their adequacy — a contractor that builds in compliance with defective owner-provided specs is not liable for the resulting failure.
United States v. Spearin (1918) is the foundational Supreme Court case. When the owner provides plans and specifications, the owner impliedly warrants them. A contractor that builds in compliance with the spec and experiences failure because the spec was defective is generally not liable for that defect.
The doctrine applies most cleanly on traditional design-bid-build contracts where the owner controls design. It applies less directly on design-build contracts where the contractor controls design, and many contracts attempt to disclaim or limit it. Many defect-defense cases for general contractors live or die on Spearin.
Cases
- United States v. Spearin (1918), 248 U.S. 132