Southwest Olshan Foundation Repair Company, L.L.C. D/B/A Olshan Foundation Repair Company v. Nelda Gonzales

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 19, 2011
Docket04-09-00232-CV
StatusPublished

This text of Southwest Olshan Foundation Repair Company, L.L.C. D/B/A Olshan Foundation Repair Company v. Nelda Gonzales (Southwest Olshan Foundation Repair Company, L.L.C. D/B/A Olshan Foundation Repair Company v. Nelda Gonzales) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southwest Olshan Foundation Repair Company, L.L.C. D/B/A Olshan Foundation Repair Company v. Nelda Gonzales, (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

i i i i i i

OPINION

No. 04-09-00232-CV

SOUTHWEST OLSHAN FOUNDATION REPAIR COMPANY, LLC., d/b/a Olshan Foundation Repair Company, Appellant

v.

Nelda GONZALES, Appellee

From the 37th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas Trial Court No. 2006-CI-08787 Honorable Larry Noll, Judge Presiding1

Opinion by: Sandee Bryan Marion, Justice

Sitting: Catherine Stone, Chief Justice Sandee Bryan Marion, Justice Rebecca Simmons, Justice

Delivered and Filed: January 19, 2011

REVERSED AND RENDERED

This is an appeal from a jury verdict in favor of appellee, the plaintiff below, Nelda Gonzales.

Appellant, the defendant below, Southwest Olshan Foundation Repair Co. (“Olshan”) raises six

issues on appeal: (1) there is no implied warranty because Olshan provided an express warranty; (2)

… The Honorable David Berchelmann is the presiding judge of the 37th Judicial District Court of Bexar 1

County. However, the Honorable Larry Noll, presiding judge of the 407th Judicial District Court of Bexar County, presided over the trial and signed the judgment at issue in this appeal. 04-09-00232-CV

recovery is barred by limitations; (3) there is no evidence of reasonable cost of repairs, that physical

damage to Nelda’s house was caused by a construction defect, or of misrepresentation or of reliance

or damages caused by any misrepresentation; and (4) the trial court should have submitted a jury

question on whether Nelda wrongfully prevented Olshan from performing warranty work on the

home’s foundation. In an opinion and judgment dated April 21, 2010, we reversed the trial court’s

judgment and rendered judgment in favor of Olshan because we concluded Nelda’s DTPA and

implied warranty claims are barred by limitations and the evidence in support of her fraud claims is

legally insufficient. Nelda filed a motion for rehearing and a motion for en banc reconsideration.

To clarify our discussion on the issue of the statute of limitations, we vacate our earlier judgment,

withdraw our earlier opinion, and issue this opinion and judgment in their place. Concluding our

original analysis was correct, we overrule both motions.

BACKGROUND

Nelda Gonzales and her former husband purchased their home in 1996. In June 2001, when

the Gonzaleses noticed cracking and other problems in the interior and exterior of the house, they

filed a claim with their homeowner’s insurance company, Allstate Insurance Company. Allstate

determined that plumbing leaks caused foundation movement and related damage and paid the

Gonzaleses to make repairs.

The Gonzaleses hired Olshan to stabilize the foundation, and Olshan prepared an Agreement,

which called for the installation of “cable-locked press [concrete] pilings” and related work. Olshan

installed forty-five cable-locked pilings in July 2001. Nelda testified that as a result of Olshan

leveling the foundation, cracks appeared throughout the inside of the house. Approximately three

-2- 04-09-00232-CV

months later, in October 2001, Nelda gutted the home’s interior and made significant cosmetic

repairs.

The house experienced no other problems until April 2002, when Nelda noticed more

cracking and other problems, such as doors and windows sticking. Olshan sent an employee to

inspect the house, and he discovered new plumbing leaks under the house. Nelda again contacted

her insurance company, and testing revealed more leaks. Nelda signed the test report, which was

dated April 24, 2002. The Gonzaleses called Olshan again in October 2002. All-Leak Plumbing and

Olshan came to the house in May 2003. Olshan dug tunnels under the house to look for additional

leaks, and All-Leak Plumbing repaired the leaks. After All-Leak Plumbing repaired the leaks,

Olshan took elevations of the house in July 2003, and returned in August 2003 to dig additional

tunnels and re-level the foundation. Nelda testified the Olshan employee who came to the house in

August 2003 said “he was out there to fix the mistakes that were done from the previous work.”

Olshan re-leveled the house, and the City of San Antonio certified the plumbing work as complete.

Olshan came out to the house again in October 2003 to re-level the house. Nelda testified the Olshan

employee who came to the house in October 2003 told her “they were going to replace what was bad

and perform . . . the job.”

Nelda also testified that when Olshan dug the tunnels in May 2003, it did not put the dirt back

into the tunnels. According to Nelda, Olshan did not replace the dirt when it came out again in July

2003. She said no one told her that leaving the tunnels open would damage her house. However,

in October 2003, when Olshan’s crew chief told her he wanted to fill in the tunnels, Nelda refused

to allow him to do so based on an earlier conversation she had with another Olshan employee. Nelda

-3- 04-09-00232-CV

testified this employee told her Olshan was “not doing a good job under the house . . . . In fact, it’s

the worst job I have ever seen.” Nelda said he told her not to allow Olshan to replace the dirt

because her home had “not been fixed.” According to Nelda, he also told her to “find an attorney

because your house is messed up.” When Nelda relayed this conversation to the Olshan crew chief,

he called his office and then told Nelda “we have spent too much time on your home and we have

other work to do. We are going to put you on a waiting list for four to six months.” When asked

on cross-examination whether she was aware in October 2003 of the need to assert any claims

against Olshan, Nelda replied that she was told Olshan would be back in four to six months to

correct whatever needed to be corrected. In November 2003, an Olshan engineer came to the house

for elevation and plumbing leak tests. According to Nelda, Olshan told her “everything was okay.”

At this time, she believed she was still on the wait-list. Olshan did not come back to the house

within the next four to six months.

Nelda’s husband filed for divorce in August 2003. Sometime in early 2004, without her

knowledge, her husband called Olshan. Olshan came to the house in either January or February of

2004 and told her it was there to fill in the tunnels with dirt. She did not allow them to do so because

“they still couldn’t show me anything that they had done under the house that they said they were

going to fix.” In July 2005, Olshan sent BEC Engineering to the house to conduct more tests and,

according to Nelda, a BEC Engineering employee said “everything was okay.” At some point in

time, Nelda retained legal representation. Her attorneys hired Jim Linehan of Linehan Engineering

(“Linehan”) to inspect the house. In May 2006, Linehan inspected the house and, according to

-4- 04-09-00232-CV

Nelda, said the “pilings weren’t working.” Nelda claimed she was not aware of this problem before

Linehan’s May 2006 report.

Nelda filed suit against Olshan on June 6, 2006 on various causes of action. A jury trial

commenced on October 21, 2008. Nelda waived any recovery for breach of contract, and instead,

she proceeded to trial on theories of breach of express and implied warranties, fraud, and DTPA

violations.

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

Nelda filed suit on June 6, 2006, and she asserted the discovery rule and fraudulent

concealment as defenses to limitations. At trial, Nelda testified she was not aware the Olshan pilings

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Southwest Olshan Foundation Repair Company, L.L.C. D/B/A Olshan Foundation Repair Company v. Nelda Gonzales, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southwest-olshan-foundation-repair-company-llc-dba-olshan-foundation-texapp-2011.