Nicholls v. Veolia Water Contract Operations USA, Inc.

Summary

The court held that the state-law clarification of the phrase "construction and design of improvements" eliminated both grounds on which the district court granted summary judgment to Veolia. The phrase is not limited to contract-defined Initial Capital Improvements, and the record does not establish as a matter of law that all of plaintiffs' repair and replacement work falls outside it. The court therefore reversed, vacated, and remanded for the district court to evaluate the particular tasks and resolve remaining issues.