Lynch v. Peterson & Associates (2024)
The plaintiff entered a construction project contract with a general contractor. The general contractor then engaged the defendant to conduct a geotechnical inspection. Defendant’s report found the project footing to be “acceptable and suitable,” but the footing collapsed, and the house subsided. Plaintiff sued the geotechnical inspector for breach of contract, negligence and nuisance. The trial court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment, finding the defendant inspector had no contract with plaintiff and no legal liability to plaintiff under any negligence or nuisance theory.
The Court of Appeal reversed and found a triable issue of material fact regarding the plaintiff’s professional negligence claim. The court concluded that plaintiff was an intended beneficiary of the defendant’s inspection and there was a reasonable certainty plaintiff’s injury derived from the defendant’s inspection.
