Clifford v. Baker

431 So. 2d 1072, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8227
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 11, 1983
DocketNo. 82-CA-163
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 431 So. 2d 1072 (Clifford v. Baker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clifford v. Baker, 431 So. 2d 1072, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8227 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinions

GRISBAUM, Judge.

Appellees, Robert and Vanda Clifford, filed suit against appellant, John H. Baker, d/b/a Oasis Pools, seeking recision of a contract by which appellant agreed to build a swimming pool in appellees’ backyard. The Cliffords alternately requested damages sufficient to repair certain deficiencies in the pool, the damages done to their home, and for embarrassment. The trial court found in favor of appellees. Mr. Baker alleges on appeal that the cause of the pool’s defects was sinking of the ground rather than faulty construction and that he was improperly held personally liable as he was acting as an agent of Oasis Pools, Inc. Appellees answered the appeal seeking an increase in the judgment. We affirm in part and reverse in part the judgment of the trial court.

Mr. and Mrs. Clifford, upon deciding to have a pool built in the backyard of their home in Gretna, Louisiana, contacted Mr. Baker who met with the couple at their home. On a second meeting on May 16, 1980, a contract was signed by all three parties. Construction soon began on the pool which was finished July 3, 1980. Ap-pellees paid the full contract price of $12,-202 plus' $800.70 for excavation. However, various defects surfaced during or shortly after construction of the pool. There were several cracks in the decking and in the coping, “cold poured” concrete, irregular “swimout”, gunite accidentally sprayed on the house and garage, and tiles on angles. [1073]*1073A pool alarm was promised as “lagniappe” on the contract but was never delivered.

The initial issue is whether the defects of the pool were caused by construction errors or sinking of the pool due to the subsidence of the soil. It is undisputed that when the pool was inspected for litigation purposes the deep end was lower than the rest of the pool. The dispute remains whether the pool was built out of level or whether the pool had in fact sunk. There were also other defects unrelated to the sinking of the pool.

Under Louisiana jurisprudence the agreement for the construction of this pool was a building contract. Therefore, the plaintiff has the burden to show the defects are due to poor workmanship or defects of material rather than any latent defects in the soil or other cause for which the builder is not responsible. Unverzagt v. Young Builders, Inc., 207 So.2d 405 (La.App. 3d Cir.1967); Wurst v. Pruyn, 250 La. 1109, 202 So.2d 268 (La.1967).

Mr. Baker testified that in determining whether the soil was sufficient to build the pool in, he relies on the backhoe operator who excavates the area. He stated the operator has gauges on his equipment which indicate the quality of the soil for the purposes of building a pool. No problems were indicated in the instant case. Mr. Baker also testified he has built other pools in the same vicinity without building on pilings and presumably has not had the same degree of problems. He stated he paid a man approximately $500 for leveling the pool before installing the coping. He added that he was not responsible for subsurface draining as the contract specified the owner was. Mr. Baker stated he had offered to put in anchors for a rope or pay for the installation as he felt it was the right thing to do. He stated footprints visible on the bottom of the pool could be sanded out rather than plastered over. Mr. Baker admitted the “cold pour” is not satisfactory and had been willing to rectify that. However, he denied the other allegations of unworkmanlike construction. Mr. Baker felt $2236 would be sufficient to rectify any problems with the pool.

Robert Gibbens, of Gibbens Pool, Inc., testified as an expert on behalf of appellees. Mr. Gibbens had examined the pool for defects on behalf of the Cliffords and presented them with a written estimate of $10,366 for his company to correct the work. Mr. Gibbens testified he did not consider the pool acceptable for a number of reasons. He stated there was an insufficient number of expansion joints around the deck and skimmer and such joints would have prevented some of the cracking. He opined the pool was built out of level. However, testifying on behalf of appellant as experts, Ernest Carl, of Century Pools, Inc., stated the failure of the ground caused the swimming pool to sink and Steve Bergeron agreed the pool had not been built out of level but had sunk. The trial court recognized in its reasons for judgment that Mr. Carl and Mr. Bergeron agreed there were problems with the pool evident on their inspection. However, they did not testify the problems were due to poor workmanship. Rather, both men felt cracking is to be expected around pools in the New Orleans area. However, Mr. Carl testified he never placed his expansion joints more than ten feet apart. The expansion joints in the instant case were some 20 feet apart. Mr. Bergeron agreed the appearance of cracks within several weeks of construction would be somewhat unusual. Mr. Carl felt the repairs could be done for approximately $2500 to $3500. Mr. Bergeron believed the cost of material and labor to raise the deep end would cost between $3500 and $4000.

The evidence establishes, as Mr. Baker admits, the “cold pour” concrete is not satisfactory and must be redone. The evidence also establishes that expansion joints should have been placed more closely together which could possibly have prevented some of the ensuing cracking. The swimout should also be redone because of the irregular shape. Footprints in the bottom of the pool should be sanded out. The pool alarm should be given or an equal price given to the Cliffords. It seems from the testimony it is more likely the pool sank than it is that it was built out of level. However, there [1074]*1074was no definitive testimony at trial to explain the cause of the sinking of the pool. The fact the sinking occurred so soon after construction indicates a deficiency on the part of the builder. Appellant alleged on appeal that he was exculpated according to the contract which stated the homeowners warranted the site to have “adequate bearing”. However, the contractual provision merely provided for an extra charge to the homeowner if the contractor was required to provide additional material and labor to stabilize the site. As stated in Wurst, supra, the contractor has expert knowledge of such things as the condition of a site, or should have, and he must bring these things to the attention of the owners. There does not seem to have been any latent defects in the soil in the Cliffords’ backyard to hold Mr. Baker harmless as he testified he was familiar with the type of soil present in that area. The trial court awarded $4000 to compensate appellees for the defects it found to exist in the pool. It awarded an additional $260 for the pool alarm which was not provided. We cannot say the trial judge was clearly wrong in so holding.

The second issue is whether appel-lees knew or should have known that Mr. Baker was acting as an agent of Oasis Pools, Inc. The trial judge cast Baker in judgment individually setting out the following reasons for judgment:

“In connection with the liability of the defendant, John H. Baker, personally, the Court finds that although Oasis Pools was in fact a corporate entity at the time the contract was executed, no written or verbal disclosures were made to plaintiffs to identify the corporate status of the defendant, and in the opinion of the Court the plaintiffs had no knowledge that they were dealing with a corporation, but assumed that they were contracting with John Baker in an individual capacity for the defendant company.”

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Related

Clifford v. Baker
438 So. 2d 1111 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
431 So. 2d 1072, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8227, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clifford-v-baker-lactapp-1983.