Commercial Entity v. Construction Company: Ten-Year Warranty Liability for Foundation Defects

A commercial entity sued a construction company seeking compensation for damages resulting from defects in the foundations of a building erected under a ten-year guarantee, asserting the foundation work was inherently flawed. The defendant construction company argued that the collapse was due to a superior force, specifically unstable subsoil conditions that were not apparent at the time of construction and which the owner had been warned about or should have foreseen. The court dismissed the appeal, upholding the lower court's finding that the contractor remained liable under the ten-year warranty for defects in construction—including those related to the soil stability if not properly accounted for—unless they could definitively prove the damage was caused by an unforeseeable external event or faulty maintenance by the owner, which they failed to do.