Building Owner v. Contractor: Contractual Liability vs. Ten-Year Warranty Prescription

A building owner sued a contractor for poor performance regarding foundation work, alleging the contract had not been properly executed, but the contractor invoked the five-year warranty concerning building works, arguing the alleged defects were latent and thus covered by this statutory warranty. The court held that since the action was based on the contractor's failure to fulfill the obligations of the contract of enterprise and not explicitly on the responsibility arising from the ten-year warranty for structural defects in the building, the prescriptive period applicable was the general five-year limitation period for actions relating to the execution of construction work, which had expired, leading to the cassation of the lower court's ruling that applied the ten-year period.