Peak

Plaintiffs who are home owners in El Cerrito, California, allege in their first amended complaint that the slide damage to their respective homes in the early winter of 1956 was the direct result of the negligence of a group of defendants in the excavation of a school site on land adjacent to the plaintiffs’ homes. The named defendants are the Richmond Elementary School District, John H. McCosker, general contractor, Clyde and Associates, soil engineers, Orinda Excavating and Paving Company, and Barbachano, Ivanitsky and Watanabe, the architects employed by the school district. All the defendants except the architects answered the complaints. The architects who are the respondents herein, filed a general demurrer, which was sustained without leave to amend. This appeal is taken from the judgment thereafter entered in favor of respondents.

The sole issue on appeal is whether the complaint states a cause of action against the respondent architects. We think it does.

The allegations of the complaint applicable to the architects are contained in paragraphs 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18.

In determining whether a complaint states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, the rule is…