Construction Claim Rules in New Hampshire

Statutory interest rate

1-yr T-bill + 2% (judgments/prejudgment, simple); 10% flat default for other business contracts

For judgments (including prejudgment interest, which the statute names explicitly), the rate is set annually by the State Treasurer as the prevailing 26-week Treasury bill discount rate at the last auction before the end of September, plus 2 percentage points, effective the following calendar year. Separately, a flat 10% per year applies as the general default for business transactions with no written rate (excluding consumer credit).

Compounding: Simple; the statute expressly labels the judgment/prejudgment rate an 'annual simple rate of interest.'

Citation: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 336:1

Source: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXXI/336/336-1.htm

Accrual: breach of contract claim

Not date of breach: from the date of the writ (essentially when the lawsuit was filed)

New Hampshire's prejudgment interest statute, titled 'Interest From Date of Writ,' runs interest from the date the writ (the document commencing the lawsuit) is issued through the date of verdict, at the rate set in the general interest statute. This applies regardless of when the underlying breach occurred.

Citation: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 524:1-b

Source: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/liii/524/524-1-b.htm

A different, narrower statute (RSA 421-B:25) governs a specific category of securities/Blue-Sky-Law claims and runs interest from the date of the underlying transaction instead; that's a special case, not the general contract rule.

Accrual: property damage / tort claim

Same filing-date rule as contract claims: from the date of the writ, not the date of loss

The same general statute, RSA 524:1-b, governs property-damage and other tort claims; there's no separate date-of-loss provision. Interest runs from the date the writ was issued (filing) through verdict.

Citation: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 524:1-b

Source: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/liii/524/524-1-b.htm

Like Michigan, Iowa and Louisiana's tort rule, New Hampshire ties interest to the filing date rather than the date of loss or breach, so filing promptly directly affects how much interest accrues.

Actual Cash Value rule

Broad evidence rule

The New Hampshire Supreme Court held both fair market value and replacement cost are permissible standards for valuing a loss, but 'standards and not shackles'; evidence of both may be introduced, with the fact-finder free to weigh all evidence logically tending to establish value at the time of loss.

Citation: Pinet v. New Hampshire Fire Ins. Co., 100 N.H. 346, 126 A.2d 262 (1956)

Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/new-hampshire/supreme-court/1956/4516-0.html

ACV statute or regulation

No New Hampshire statute or regulation defines an ACV methodology or restricts depreciating labor. The rule comes from common law.

RSA chapter 417 (Unfair Insurance Trade Practices), including RSA 417:4, sets general unfair claims practices prohibitions but no ACV calculation method or labor depreciation provision. New Hampshire courts apply a flexible broad evidence rule to ACV. No reported New Hampshire decision addresses labor depreciation.

Source: https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XXXVII/417/417-4.htm

Recoverable depreciation holdback

No New Hampshire statute or regulation governs the timing of a recoverable depreciation holdback or the depreciation of labor, so the policy terms control.

No New Hampshire statute, regulation or decision addresses holdback timing or the labor question. Read the policy's replacement cost provisions.

Source: https://uphelp.org/claim-guidance-publications/insurance-consumer-rights-in-the-state-of-new-hampshire-2022/

“No damages for delay” clause enforceability

No New Hampshire state or federal court has considered the validity of no-damages-for-delay clauses.

No New Hampshire state or federal decision addresses the validity of no-damages-for-delay clauses. Famous Players Film Co. v. Salomon (1918) covers the general prevention doctrine rather than such a clause, so there is no New Hampshire rule to apply.

Source: https://www.woodsaitken.com/sites/default/files/Survey_50-State-Matrix_Pay-If-Paid_No-Damage-for-Delay.pdf

Construction contract filing deadline

3 years for a personal action, including an ordinary contract claim

New Hampshire's general limitations period for a personal action, including an action on a contract, is 3 years from accrual, among the shortest in the country. Two deadlines sit in front of that one on most construction claims. A mechanic's lien and a payment bond claim each run on their own, far shorter clock, counted from last furnishing rather than from breach and missing either one removes the security while leaving the contract claim alive but unsecured. Check those dates first. Accrual is the other half of the question: the period runs from breach, which on a payment dispute is usually the date payment came due rather than the date the work was done.

Citation: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 508:4

Source: https://law.justia.com/codes/new-hampshire/title-lii/chapter-508/section-508-4/

State unemployment insurance (SUTA)

New employers start at the statutory 2.7% rate, reduced each quarter by the fund balance reduction, which is why 1.7% is often quoted. Wage base $14,000.

Every new employer starts at 2.7% on the first $14,000 of each employee's wages. New Hampshire then applies a quarterly fund balance reduction tied to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund: 0.5% off when the fund holds at least $250 million through the preceding quarter, 1.0% off at $275 million and 1.5% off at $300 million. A 1.0% reduction produces the 1.7% figure payroll guides publish. A separate administrative contribution surcharge is added on top. Negative-balance employers can face an inverse rate surcharge instead. Experience rates run from about 0.1% to 7.0% before those adjustments, assigned each year. New Hampshire has no state income tax but does levy this tax on employers.

Citation: New Hampshire Employment Security, Employer Claims & Taxes page

Source: https://www.nhes.nh.gov/employers/employer-claims-taxes

Last checked: 2026-09-17

The rate that actually applies changes every quarter with the fund balance, so read the quarterly rate notice rather than relying on either headline figure.

Workers' compensation rating

NCCI advisory rating state; workers' comp is written by private carriers under state Insurance Department oversight, with a 2026 statewide rate cut approved.

New Hampshire uses NCCI advisory rates and class codes for workers' compensation insurance, written by private carriers and regulated by the New Hampshire Insurance Department. Industry press reported the New Hampshire Insurance Department approved a 6.1% average workers' compensation rate cut effective for 2026, reflecting the state's use of the NCCI loss-cost filing process rather than an independent state rating bureau.

Citation: Insurance Journal, New Hampshire Approves 6.1% Workers' Comp Rate Cut for 2026; NCCI Proof of Coverage State Guide, New Hampshire

Source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2025/08/06/834769.htm

Prevailing wage law

New Hampshire has no state prevailing-wage law; its former statute was repealed in 1985.

New Hampshire does not have a current state-level prevailing wage requirement for public works contracts. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's state prevailing wage summary, New Hampshire's prevailing wage law was repealed in 1985. Only the federal Davis-Bacon Act applies to federally funded projects in the state; state and local public construction contracts are not subject to a state-mandated prevailing wage.

Citation: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, State Prevailing Wage Laws summary

Source: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/prevailing-wages

Comparative / contributory negligence rule

Modified comparative fault, recovery barred above 50% fault (51% bar)

Recovery is reduced in proportion to fault and barred once the worker is more than 50% at fault. A worker exactly 50% at fault still recovers half.

Citation: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 507:7-d (bar and burden of proof); § 507:7-e (joint and several liability above 50%); § 507:7-f (no contribution against an immune person)

Source: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LII/507/507-7-d.htm

Verified against: statute text of N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. ss 507:7-d, 507:7-e and 507:7-f at gc.nh.gov

Non-economic damages cap

No general cap on non-economic damages

Most states cap non-economic damages only in medical malpractice actions, which does not reach a third-party construction claim. Economic losses, medical bills, lost wages, future earning capacity, are not capped by these statutes.

OSHA plan

Federal OSHA (no state plan)

New Hampshire has no OSHA-approved state plan; both public and private employers fall under federal OSHA jurisdiction. Under federal jurisdiction the citation is issued by an OSHA area office and contested before the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Federal OSHA does not cover state and local government employees, so a public employee injured on a public job falls outside it. Reporting deadlines are a work-related fatality within 8 hours, an inpatient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours. For a construction claim the inspection file matters more than the citation: photographs, measurements, witness statements and the inspector's narrative are usually obtainable and are often the best contemporaneous record of the site.

Citation: 29 U.S.C. § 667 (State Plan roster)

Source: https://www.osha.gov/stateplans

Weight of an OSHA violation in a negligence case

Open question: the New Hampshire Supreme Court has not decided whether an OSHA violation can support negligence per se

A federal court in New Hampshire has stated plainly that the New Hampshire Supreme Court has not decided whether a violation of an OSHA regulation could support a state law negligence per se claim. That court did not need to resolve it, because the plaintiff had not pleaded the factual basis for the claim. Treat the question as open in New Hampshire. Evidence rather than negligence per se means the violation goes to the jury as one fact among several. The worker still proves duty, breach, causation and damages in the ordinary way and the defendant can argue the standard did not apply to it, that the cited condition did not cause this injury, or that the citation was contested or withdrawn. The reverse is also true: compliance with OSHA is not a defence, since the standards are a floor rather than a definition of reasonable care.

Citation: McCarthy v. Weathervane Seafoods (D.N.H.).

Source: https://biz.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Civil_Law/Tort_Law:_A_21st-Century_Approach_(Said)/03:_Negligence/3.05:_Negligence_Per_Se_and_Res_Ipsa_Loquitur

Third-party contribution against the employer

RSA 281-A:18 makes a general contractor liable for compensation to a subcontractor's injured employee, which gives the general contractor exclusive-remedy immunity from third-party claims.

RSA 281-A:18 makes a general contractor statutorily liable for workers-comp to a subcontractor's injured employee (in the same manner as Georgia, North Dakota, South Dakota and other states' up-the-line immunity statutes), which correspondingly grants the GC exclusive-remedy immunity from third-party tort/contribution claims. Grady v. Jones Lang LaSalle Constr. Co., No. 2017-0371 (N.H. Aug. 8, 2018) directly addressed this in a construction-site injury context: an employee of a roofing subcontractor was injured using a propane torch on a project where Jones Lang LaSalle was the general contractor.

Citation: RSA 281-A:18; Grady v. Jones Lang LaSalle Constr. Co., No. 2017-0371 (N.H. Aug. 8, 2018).

Source: https://www.workerscompensation.com/daily-headlines/new-hampshires-exclusive-remedy-rule/

Injury-severity gate on contribution claims

Intentional-injury exception requiring substantial certainty the injury would occur; negligence or recklessness alone is not enough. A separate dual-capacity doctrine can also pierce employer immunity.

RSA 281-A:8 makes workers' comp exclusive. The rule does not apply to injuries the employer intentionally inflicted; to establish intent the employee must show, at minimum, that the employer was substantially certain the injury would occur , ordinary negligence or recklessness is insufficient. Separately, the dual-capacity doctrine (Ryan v. Hiller) permits suit against an employer who, beyond its role as employer, also occupied a second capacity carrying independent legal obligations. In practice exclusivity takes the direct employer off the tort table entirely, whatever the OSHA file shows. The claim runs against the other parties on the site: the general contractor, the owner, another subcontractor, an equipment manufacturer. The employer or its carrier then asserts a lien against whatever the worker recovers from those parties, so the figure the worker actually keeps is the recovery less the lien, the fee and the costs. Whether the lien is reduced for the cost of obtaining the recovery is a separate state question worth asking early, because it moves the net more than most people expect.

Citation: RSA 281-A:8; Ryan v. Hiller, 138 N.H. 348 (1994).

Source: https://www.workerscompensation.com/daily-headlines/new-hampshires-exclusive-remedy-rule/

Distinctive state doctrine

Construction-specific limit on the corporate-officer coverage exclusion; substantially-certain intentional-tort standard

New Hampshire allows a corporation or LLC to exclude up to three executive officers or members from workers' compensation coverage under RSA 281-A:18-a, but that exclusion does not apply to an officer or member who actively engages in on-site work at a construction site. A construction executive who does hands-on site work stays covered. New Hampshire's intentional-tort exception requires the employer to have been substantially certain the injury would occur; ordinary negligence or recklessness is not enough.

Citation: RSA 281-A:8 (exclusivity); RSA 281-A:18-a (officer-exclusion election, construction carve-out)

Source: https://www.workcompconsultant.com/s29-new-hampshire-workers-compensation/