A & B Painting & Drywall, Inc. v. Superior Court

Petitioners, defendants in an action to recover for defective drywall installation, challenge the denial of their motions for summary judgment made on the ground that the statute of limitations had run on the action against them. We have consolidated the petitions since the same issues and factual showings are involved and both summary judgment motions were disposed of in a single order.

Procedural History—Facts

On February 1,1993, Bohannon Development Company (real party) filed a complaint alleging that it is the owner and developer of the Hillsdale Mall. Bohannon retained petitioner Rudolph & Sletten, Inc., as general contractor for a renovation project. Petitioner A & B Painting and Drywall, Inc., was the steel framing and drywall subcontractor. The complaint alleges that real party has been damaged by latent deficiencies in the interior drywall framing at Hillsdale.

Petitioners filed motions for summary judgment contending that the 10-year statute of limitations governing latent defects (Code Civ. Proc., § 337.15) commenced to run on September 29,1982, the date of recordation of the notice of completion of the project and that, therefore, the complaint was…