Nash v. MacDonald

112 Cal. Rptr. 2d 230, 92 Cal. App. 4th 847, 2001 D.A.R. 10
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 2, 2001
DocketA090825
StatusPublished

This text of 112 Cal. Rptr. 2d 230 (Nash v. MacDonald) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nash v. MacDonald, 112 Cal. Rptr. 2d 230, 92 Cal. App. 4th 847, 2001 D.A.R. 10 (Cal. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

112 Cal.Rptr.2d 230 (2001)
92 Cal.App.4th 847

Dorothy NASH et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,
v.
Edward R. MacDONALD et al., Defendants and Respondents.

No. A090825.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division Four.

October 2, 2001.
Review Denied January 3, 2002.[*]

*231 Gary P. Oswald, San Rafael, Elizabeth E. Bader, San Francisco, Appellants.

Eisen & Johnston, Jay-Allen Eisen, Marian M. Johnston, K. Greg Peterson, Jeffory J. Scharff, Sacramento, Frederick A. Belt, Placerville, for Respondent Julia I. Carrington.

Edward R. MacDonald, in pro. per.

KAY, J.

Plaintiffs appeal from the judgment determining they are entitled to recover nothing from defendants for allegedly causing damage to plaintiffs' real property. The judgment was entered after the trial court had previously made an order granting defendants summary adjudication on plaintiffs' cause of action for strict liability. The judgment itself determines that plaintiffs' remaining causes of action were time-barred by Code of Civil Procedure section 337.1,[1] which the trial court identified as the applicable statute of limitations for patent defects of real property. Plaintiffs contend the trial court erred in: (1) determining that there was no legal basis for their strict liability claim; and (2) not treating the defect as latent, and thus governed by section 337.15. We agree with plaintiffs on both points and therefore reverse.

BACKGROUND

This appeal is simplified by considerable agreement on the salient facts. Defendants are the owners of a subdivision in Solano County. Defendants agreed with the county (in July of 1983) that the subdivision would include streets and roadway grading. Five years later defendants became responsible for a "Road Maintenance Agreement" by which they undertook to maintain a private road called Marie Lane in order to provide ingress and egress to three specified lots. A paved road on Marie Lane was completed by May of 1989. *232 The contractor that built the road also agreed to perform excavation grading, and "erosion control," and to construct "storm drain and water systems." The subdivision was substantially completed on August 15, 1989. Defendants sold the specified lots in the subdivision to plaintiffs from October 1989 through November 1990.

By February of 1993, before any of plaintiffs had constructed a residence on their lots, they noticed that drainage was inadequate, the subsurface support for the road had not been compacted properly, the asphalt surface of the road was cracking, and that adjoining slopes had been cut so steeply as to pose a danger.

Plaintiffs commenced this action by filing a complaint against defendants on January 24, 1996. In their first amended complaint plaintiffs set forth causes of action for strict liability, negligence, breach of contract and of implied warranties, and declaratory relief.

Defendants Albert and Julia Carrington moved for summary judgment or summary adjudication. Summary judgment was denied, but summary adjudication was granted as to plaintiffs' strict liability cause of action. The trial court stated in its order that "there can be no recovery for purely economic losses. (Fieldstone Co. v. Briggs Plumbing Products, Inc. (1997) 54 Cal. App.4th 357, 363-366, 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 701.) The first amended complaint seeks damages for the roads themselves, and not for any physical injuries to persons or to other property."

As recited in the judgment, the parties agreed that the remaining issues would be bifurcated. Defendants' affirmative defenses were the subject of a two-day bench trial. The relevant portion of the judgment reads: "Code of Civil Procedure section 337.1 is the statute of limitations applicable to the plaintiffs' claims. The evidence shows that ... the ... subdivision ... was substantially completed on August 15, 1989. From the evidence it is clear that all of plaintiffs' alleged defects ... were apparent by reasonable inspection by no later than February of 1993, and had clearly manifested themselves by that date. The alleged defects therefore became patent during the first four years after substantial completion. The plaintiffs accordingly had until August 15, 1994 to file suit as to the alleged defects but failed to do so, as the instant action was not filed until January 24, 1996. Code of Civil Procedure section 337.1(b); see also Tomko Woll Group Architects, Inc. v. Superior Court (1996) 46 Cal.App.4th 1326, 1336 [54 Cal.Rptr.2d 300]; Sanchez v. Swinerton & Walberg (1996) 47 Cal. App.4th 1461, 1471 [55 Cal.Rptr.2d 415]. The plaintiffs had a reasonable period of time in which to act after gaining the knowledge necessary to act and before the point of final termination of their rights was reached, and plaintiffs failed to act within that time period. [¶] Based on these facts the plaintiffs' claims and each of them are barred in their entirety under Code of Civil Procedure section 337.1, the present action having been filed well after the applicable statute of limitations had expired. In light of the trial court's findings concerning the applicability of the statute of limitations, no other findings concerning the other issues tried before this court are necessary."

I

(A)

Before proceeding to the merits of plaintiffs' claim that the trial court erred in summarily adjudicating their strict liability cause of action, we must first address defendant *233 MacDonald's argument that plaintiffs have waived their right to seek review of the ruling. The waiver argument has two parts.

First, MacDonald posits that the summary adjudication order is not mentioned in plaintiffs' notice of appeal and does not figure in the judgment, which discusses only the statute of limitations issue. This reasoning is not persuasive. The summary adjudication order was properly omitted from the notice of appeal because it is not an appealable order. (E.g., Gaillard v. Natomas Co. (1989) 208 Cal.App.3d 1250, 1255, fn. 1, 256 Cal.Rptr. 702.) Such an order is deemed merely interim or preliminary to a final judgment; appeal from the judgment will permit review of the order. (E.g., In re Matthew C. (1993) 6 Cal.4th 386, 393;, 24 Cal.Rptr.2d 765, 862 P.2d 765, 9 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (4th ed. 1997) Appeal, § 58, p. 113, § 119, p. 183.) It is true that the "Judgment" filed by the trial court at the conclusion of the trial on the statute of limitations is largely devoted to that issue, and it does not mention the earlier summary adjudication ruling. Nevertheless, it is entitled a judgment, and it concludes with the following language: "Judgment is herewith entered in favor of defendants, and each of them, and plaintiffs are to recover nothing on their claims. Defendants, as the prevailing parties, are entitled to recover their costs from plaintiffs." It was entered as a judgment, and notice of that entry was given to the parties. It looks like a final judgment, was treated by the parties as a final judgment, and, MacDonald admits, its statute of limitations conclusion applied to all of plaintiffs' causes of action. The document entered by the court meets the statutory definition of a judgment (§ 577). We shall therefore treat it as such for purposes of this appeal.

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Bluebook (online)
112 Cal. Rptr. 2d 230, 92 Cal. App. 4th 847, 2001 D.A.R. 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nash-v-macdonald-calctapp-2001.