Star Restoration v. Salame CA2/2

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Facts1

Frank Salame (defendant) owns a home in Pomona, California, but spends 11 months out of the year in Lebanon working as an engineer on building projects. In late June 2014, defendant’s homeowner’s association sent a letter notifying him that an unknown liquid was leaking out from beneath the garage door of his home. Because he was in Lebanon, defendant asked his friend Antoinette Auon (Auon), to whom defendant had already given a key to the house, to “take care of” the problem.

We draw these facts from the settled statement originally submitted by the homeowner in this case, but consistent with the substantial evidence standard of review, set forth those facts in the light most favorable to the judgment.

2 In mid-July 2014, Aoun reached out to Tannous Abi-Najm (Tony),2 who grew up with Aoun’s husband. Tony was a building contractor who ran Star Restoration, Inc. (Star). Aoun let defendant know she “had a contractor looking at the house.” Tony’s initial inspection revealed that the reverse osmosis filter under the kitchen sink had sprung a leak, and that the leak—gone unaddressed for months in the unoccupied house— had seeped…