WASHINGTON — Climate change is throwing new challenges at builders, including opening them up to more lawsuits. As extreme weather grows in frequency and intensity, the nation’s patchwork of building codes have not kept up with modern conditions — and if something goes wrong, contractors are not off the hook if they simply build to code, legal experts say. It’s important to understand how courts view the responsibility of construction pros amid a rapidly changing climate and extreme weather conditions that threaten human life and property, said panelists at the National Institute of Building Sciences’ Building Innovation Conference in Washington, D.C., on May 23. …“Compliance with the code or regulations involved is not in and of itself enough to satisfy that standard of reasonable care,” said Dewitz-Cryan, nor is compliance with normal industry practice enough to insulate a builder from a negligence claim, she added.