Womack

I. INTRODUCTION

In their rock-and-roll standard, “End of the Innocence,” Bruce Hornsby and Don Henley note that “The lawyers dwell on small details.” That’s true. We have to. The devil isn’t the only resident in the details; sometimes truth and fairness lodge there as well. ■

In this case, we address a “detail” that was lost or hidden and resulted in what we consider an injustice. Fortunately, as is usually the case, painstaking attention to other small details enables us to correct this injustice. If you dwell on small details with an eye to fairness, the law works well.

Here, a homeowner sued a general contractor for allegedly shoddy and incomplete work in connection with a major home remodeling contract. The homeowner’s complaint also contained a cause of action against the general contractor’s license bond company, seeking to recover for the contractor’s having “grossly deviated” from the plans and specifications for the job. To support his action, the homeowner explicitly alleged in the complaint that the contractor was licensed at all times.

For his part, the general contractor responded with a cross-complaint against the homeowner for unpaid work. The…