Shaw v. Acadian Builders & Contractors, LLC

Summary

The Louisiana Supreme Court held that water intrusion and resulting deterioration of a home's exterior load-bearing walls constituted a major structural defect under the New Home Warranty Act. Because the defects affected the walls' load-bearing functions and rendered the home unsafe, unsanitary, or unlivable, the five-year warranty and peremptive period applied. The court reversed the Court of Appeal and reinstated the trial court's damages award.

Holdings

1. A defect in a component of a statutorily designated load-bearing wall may constitute a major structural defect even if that component is not itself load-bearing, when the failure causes actual physical damage to the wall and affects the wall's load-bearing function to the extent the home becomes unsafe, unsanitary, or otherwise unlivable.
2. Because Shaw's claim involved a major structural defect, it was governed by the New Home Warranty Act's five-year warranty and peremptive period, and her suit was timely.
3. The record supported the district court's finding that the damage was not caused by Shaw's failure to mitigate and that the construction defects were not reasonably discoverable through ordinary homeowner maintenance.

Questions Presented

1. Whether water intrusion and resulting deterioration of exterior load-bearing walls constituted a major structural defect under La. Rev. Stat. § 9:3143(5).
2. Whether Shaw's claim was subject to the New Home Warranty Act's five-year warranty and peremptive period for major structural defects rather than the one-year period for ordinary defects.
3. Whether the evidence supported the district court's factual findings that the construction deficiencies caused the structural damage and that Shaw failed to mitigate her damages.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded