Printable Format16-1806. Action or arbitration to enforce act; costs; venue. In any action to enforce K.S.A. 16-1803, 16-1804 or 16-1805, and amendments thereto, including arbitration, the court or arbitrator shall award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party. Venue of such an action shall be in the county where the real property is located. The hearing in such an arbitration shall be held in the county where the real property is located.
History: L. 2005, ch. 156, § 6; July 1.
Law Review and Bar Journal References:
"The Fairness in Private Construction Contract Act: Legislative Fairness or Oxymoron?" Christopher F. Burger, 75 J.K.B.A. No. 5, 22 (2006).
CASE ANNOTATIONS
1. Request for attorney fees and costs properly denied because the amount due under contract was in dispute. Midwest Asphalt Coating v. Chelsea Plaza Homes, 45 Kan. App. 2d 119, 243 P.3d 1106 (2010).
2. Kansas fairness in private construction act does not directly prohibit the use of foreign forum selection clauses; such a clause found to be enforceable where parties were not Kansas citizens and Kansas courts routinely enforce such forum selection clauses in other cases. Bowen Eng'g, Corp. v. Pac. Indem. Co., 83 F. Supp. 3d 1185, 1190-92 (D. Kan. 2015).
3. Enforcement of forum selection clause did not violate strong public policy of Kansas. Herr Industry, Inc. v. CTI Systems, SA, 112 F. Supp. 3d 1174, 1182 (D. Kan. 2015).
4. Even if the real property involved in a dispute is located in Kansas, the proper forum for a dispute is the state required by a contractually valid forum selection clause because the public interest factors do not weigh heavily to transfer the case to Kansas where none of the parties are from Kansas and there are no issues involving the property itself. K.R.W. Constr., Inc. v. Stronghold Eng'g Inc., 598 F. Supp. 3d 1129, 1144–45 (D. Kan. 2022).