The Illinois Supreme Court held that a general contractor's third-party indemnity claims against its subcontractors accrued on the date that the general contractor was served with the underlying complaint from the homeowner. In reaching its holding, the Court rejected prior appellate court decisions which had held that such actions accrued when the third-party knew or reasonably should have known of the construction defects. In rejecting those cases, the Court relied on the fact that third-party actions "require that the party seeking relief assert a claim of derivative liability." The Court also noted that if it accepted the reasoning of the prior appellate cases, it would potentially require third-party actions to be filed before the underlying action was even brought. Guzman v. C.R. Epperson Construction, Inc., No. 89006, 2001 WL 695081 (Ill. June 21, 2001).
