Homeowner v. Contractor: Expert Report Requirement in Construction Dispute

A homeowner hired a contractor to perform construction work, and a dispute arose regarding the quality of the work, specifically concerning foundation settlement, which the homeowner alleged was due to the contractor's fault; the contractor sued for payment, and the lower court ruled against the homeowner's counterclaim for damages, finding that the required expert report was not properly obtained and that the homeowner failed to prove a direct causal link between the contractor's alleged defects and the observed damage. The highest court quashed the lower court's decision because, while the requirement for an expert report is generally recognized in disputes of this nature, the lower court failed to establish whether the non-production of the expert report was a legitimate basis for rejecting the counterclaim, especially since the court ruled on the merits of the alleged fault, thus implying that the expert opinion was not strictly necessary for the decision on liability itself.