Jimenez

I. BACKGROUND

At the time of the accident, plaintiffs lived in Lodi, California, with their mother, Marlina Guerrero, in one of the rental units in Blakely Townhomes. Blakely Townhomes was constructed in 1980. The parties agree that the property met all relevant Building Code requirements at that time. Hayes did not construct the building originally, but rather purchased the building in early 2016. A. Pretrial Motions In an effort to defeat plaintiffs’ claim of negligence per se, defendants moved for summary adjudication prior to trial, contending that because Blakely Townhomes complied with the operative Building Code when it was constructed in 1980, section 3404.1.1 in the 2013 Building Code exempted them from any new requirements because of how “minor, like-for-like alterations [are].” The trial court rejected the argument because, even if defendants showed that they were not required to comply with the 2013 Building Code and thus were not negligent per se, that would not dispose of the entirety of plaintiffs’ negligence cause of action, since the claim also rested on a general negligence theory. Defendants mounted another attack on plaintiffs’ negligence per se claim at…