JOANN WEAN VS. U.S. HOME CORP. VS. ALCOA CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION CO., INC. (L-1825-14, MONMOUTH COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the
internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-5521-17T3
JOANN WEAN,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
U.S. HOME CORPORATION,
d/b/a LENNAR CORPORATION,
Defendant/Third-Party
Plaintiff-Respondent,
and
GREENBRIAR FALLS ASSOCIATION,
TAYLOR MANAGEMENT COMPANY,
INC., TOWNE & COUNTRY
MANAGEMENT CORPORATION,
and INTEGRA MANAGEMENT
CORPORATION,
Defendants,
v.
ALCOA CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION
CO., INC., DUFEK & MIGLIARO
PLUMBING, INC., MENSER HEATING
& AIR CONDITIONING, INC., and
STROBER ORGANIZATION, INC.,
Third-Party Defendants.
Argued December 10, 2019 – Decided March 6, 2020
Before Judges Accurso, Gilson and Rose.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law
Division, Monmouth County, Docket No. L-1825-14.
Frank J. Kontely, III, argued the cause for appellant
(Hogland Longo Moran Dunst & Doukas, attorneys;
Frank John Kontely, III and Jason R. Gosnell, of
counsel and on the briefs).
William J. O'Kane, Jr., argued the cause for respondent
(Archer & Greiner PC, attorneys; William J. O'Kane,
Jr., on the brief).
PER CURIAM
In this negligent construction matter, plaintiff Joann Wean appeals the
Law Division's order dismissing her claims against defendant, U.S. Home
Corporation d/b/a Lennar, on summary judgment. Plaintiff sued defendant,
alleging she sustained personal injuries and property damage when water
infiltration caused mold to develop in the townhouse that defendant built and
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sold to her.1 Plaintiff claims the motion judge erroneously concluded her
construction expert failed to causally relate the presence of mold in her home to
moisture and water infiltration caused by defendant's negligence. In the
alternative, plaintiff argues the judge failed to conduct a hearing pursuant
to N.J.R.E. 104(a) to permit her expert to testify about the methodologies
supporting his opinion. Plaintiff also appeals another judge's earlier decision
striking plaintiff's jury demand under the terms of the parties' purchase
agreement. We affirm the motion judge's decision on summary judgment,
thereby rendering moot plaintiff's jury waiver claim.
I.
Viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, Brill v. Guardian Life Ins.
Co. of Am., 142 N.J. 520, 540 (1995), the pertinent facts are as follows.
Plaintiff purchased her townhouse in late December 2006. Prior to closing
title, plaintiff noticed a leak in the basement, which caused water damage in two
rooms. Defendant purportedly repaired the leak and plaintiff closed title.
Within days of the closing, plaintiff discovered a second leak in the basement;
defendant attempted to make repairs; but plaintiff noticed a third leak the
1
Plaintiff's complaint also named her development's homeowners association
and management companies, all of which were dismissed on summary judgment
and are not parties to this appeal.
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following day. Defendant retained a waterproofing company to repair the third
leak, but five days later, plaintiff discovered a fourth leak. Defendant allegedly
remediated that leak but six months later, plaintiff noticed a fifth leak in the
basement. Defendant again attempted to make repairs.
A few weeks before plaintiff discovered the fifth leak, her dishwasher
leaked, causing water seepage "into the kitchen's wood floors and sub floor and
. . . into a section of the finished basement." Plaintiff had the affected areas
repaired. Shortly thereafter in July 2007, plaintiff retained Steve Levy, a mold
specialist, to inspect and test the remediated areas. Levy's tests indicated the
fungal ecology was within the normal range except for "the surface sample taken
along the basement sill base plate." That sample contained an unidentifiable
"light growth of a colorless spore type."
It is undisputed there was no evidence of elevated mold levels in plaintiff's
home when plaintiff's "rapidly progressive pulmonary deterioration" began in
October 2011. Plaintiff had been diagnosed with interstitial lung disease (ILD)
in 2002, but her expert in mold-related illnesses ruled out ILD as the cause of
plaintiff's illness. Notably, plaintiff smoked cigarettes for more than forty years
until 2011.
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In July 2012, Levy detected a species of mold in plaintiff's HVAC room,
which was located in the basement. The following month, plaintiff engaged a
contractor to remediate the mold. The foreman was deposed and testified that
during demolition of the basement, he observed mold on eighty to ninety percent
of the interior drywall. Remediation did not include changes to the building
envelope, basement windows, walls or slabs. It is undisputed that the building
envelope at plaintiff's townhouse never leaked or contributed to the presence of
any mold in her residence after August 2012.
According to Levy's August 28, 2012 mold report, the basement area had
returned to a "normal indoor fungal ecology." The parties disputed the source
of the mold, but agreed that by this time plaintiff's HVAC unit had also leaked.
When deposed, Levy confirmed he tested plaintiff's basement "on numerous
occasions after August 28th, 2012, over the course of several years." The results
of those tests yielded "normal fungal ecology" with "no recurring issues with
respect to moisture problems in the basement contributing towards mold
growth."
During discovery, plaintiff's construction expert, Herbert Cannon, AIA,
issued two reports. In his first report, Cannon concluded: "The initial water
intrusion, at multiple locations, was a direct result of faulty construction by
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[defendant] of the roof, exterior walls, and basement[,] which directly caused
the growth of mold." In his second report, Cannon elaborated:
Taking into account the timeline and the list of
documents, there is no question that leaks and moisture
infiltrations occurred at various locations and at various
times and that the attempted repeated repairs of
[defendant], the [a]ssociation and the [m]anagement
[c]ompanies failed to mitigate the problems. The
repeated leaks and moisture infiltrations directly caused
the repeated infestation of mold that resulted in the
medical problems of [plaintiff].
When deposed, however, Cannon could not opine "that any specific water
infiltration event contributed to any specific mold growth in [plaintiff]'s house ,"
stating he had not seen "any documentation to that effect." Cannon repeated
that response when specifically questioned about plaintiff's basement, attic, and
roof. Cannon also conceded he could not opine "that any construction defect
[he] found within [plaintiff's] residence caused any specific mold growth within
her home." Cannon elaborated:
Again, not being an industrial hygienist, and I didn't
read anything with a cause and effect, I know that there
was water intrusion, attic and basement, and I know that
there was mold found in the house, the best I can do is
– you know, from my experience there's a cause and
effect there, but saying this specifically caused this
mold on this day or in this area, I can't say.
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Cannon also acknowledged "mold is everywhere," engaging in the
following colloquy with defendant's counsel:
QUESTION: So you could have a water event occur
and it not produce any mold at all, correct?
ANSWER: That is correct.
QUESTION: And by the same token you could have
mold without any water event, correct?
ANSWER: Yes, if you have a high humidity area . . .
then you could get mold.
QUESTION: And you could also have inactive mold
without a water event, correct?
ANSWER: Yes. Well, the inactive mold is there all
the time, so that's without a water event.
....
QUESTION: Okay. And with respect to the
photographs you saw of [plaintiff's] attic, you don't
know whether any mold in that attic was active or
inactive, correct?
ANSWER: No. In fact, all the photographs of the
attic that I've seen, I really didn't see anything that
even remotely looked like mold, but they're so
complicated, you know, and shadows, I don' really
know what was going on up there.
Following the close of discovery, defendant moved for summary
judgment, arguing plaintiff failed to demonstrate a "prima facie case of
construction defect causing water infiltration that produced the mold" in
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plaintiff's townhouse. To support its argument, defendant cited Cannon's
deposition testimony, claiming the expert admitted he could not conclude there
was "a cause and effect between any of those construction defects that he
allege[d] in this case, and the water infiltration producing mold in this case."
Plaintiff countered she was relying upon the collective opinions of Cannon,
Levy, and her two medical experts to prove causation based upon a "cumulative
theory of exposures." To support her theory, plaintiff cited the "factual
observations of water infiltration in the home on [eleven] occasions, five in the
basement, six in the attic" as observed by her family members and workers.
Plaintiff did not, however, file a sworn statement by Cannon, clarifying his
deposition testimony.
Following argument, the judge reserved decision and later issued the order
under review accompanied by an oral decision. Noting defendant's motion was
not based upon net opinion rendered by Cannon, but rather focused on plaintiff's
failure to satisfy the proximate cause element of her negligence claim, the judge
concluded "plaintiff failed to provide any credible evidence of a nexus between
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[defendant]'s alleged construction defects and the presence of mold in the
subject unit." 2 This appeal followed.
II.
We review a trial court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Cypress
Point Condo. Ass'n v. Adria Towers, L.L.C., 226 N.J. 403, 414 (2016).
Employing the same standard as the trial court, Templo Fuente De Vida Corp.
v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, 224 N.J. 189, 199 (2016), we review
the record to determine whether there are material factual disputes and, if not,
whether the undisputed facts viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff
nonetheless entitle defendant to judgment as a matter of law, Brill, 142 N.J. at
540; R. 4:46-2(c).
The elements of a negligence cause of action are well-settled. "To sustain
a cause of action for negligence, a plaintiff must establish four elements: '(1) a
duty of care, (2) a breach of that duty, (3) proximate cause, and (4) actual
damages.'" Townsend v. Pierre, 221 N.J. 36, 51 (2015) (quoting Polzo v. Cnty.
of Essex, 196 N.J. 569, 584 (2008)). A plaintiff bears the burden of proving
negligence, which is never presumed. Khan v. Singh, 200 N.J. 82, 91 (2009).
2
The motion judge did not reach the issue of medical causation.
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"[T]he issue of a defendant's liability will not be presented to the jury
simply because there is some evidence of negligence." Reynolds v. Gonzalez,
172 N.J. 266, 284 (2002). Rather, "'[t]here must be evidence or reasonable
inferences therefrom showing a proximate causal relation between defendant's
negligence' . . . and the resulting injury." Ibid. (quoting Germann v. Matriss, 55
N.J. 193, 205 (1970)). The Court has defined "proximate cause" as "any cause
which in the natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by an efficient
intervening cause, produces the result complained of and without which the
result would not have occurred." Townsend, 221 N.J. at 51 (citation omitted).
Although the motion judge cited that proximate cause definition here,
plaintiff argues the judge utilized the wrong standard in finding she failed to
prove causation. She contends the judge incorrectly required her to prove a
"single cause" of her injury or harm when Cannon's reports demonstrate "various
construction defects . . . were substantial factors in causing the mold in
[plaintiff]'s home." Plaintiff's arguments are unavailing.
We have long recognized the standard for proximate cause depends upon
the nature of the tortious conduct, distinguishing routine tort actions fro m those
that involve concurrent causes of harm. See Camp v. Jiffy Lube No. 114, 309
N.J. Super. 305, 309 (App. Div. 1998). The routine tort case "requires proof
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that the result complained of probably would not have occurred 'but for' the
negligent conduct of the defendant." Ibid. (citations omitted). When concurrent
causes of harm are alleged, "the law requires consideration of the 'substantial
factor' test." Ibid. "The 'but for' standard concentrates on one cause that sets
the other causes in motion, while the 'substantial factor' test recognizes that a
tortfeasor will be held answerable if its negligent conduct was a substantial
factor in bringing about the injuries, even where there are other intervening
causes which were foreseeable or were normal incidents of the risk created." Id.
at 309-310 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). The concurrent acts
"need not, of themselves, be capable of producing the injury; it is enough if they
are a 'substantial factor' in bringing it about." Conklin v. Hannoch Weisman,
145 N.J. 395, 419-20 (1996) (citation omitted).
This is not a "complex case" in which defendant's alleged "negligent
conduct combine[d] with other causes that led to" plaintiff's claimed damages.
Model Jury Charges (Civil), 6.12, "Proximate Cause – Claim That Concurrent
Causes of Harm Were Present" (approved May 1998) (citing Camp, 309 N.J.
Super. at 309). Plaintiff has not alleged defendant's conduct combined with
other causes to bring about her harm. Rather, she contends "the sum of the
moisture intrusions from the sum of [defendant's] construction d efects caused
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the mold in [her] home[,]" and, as such, "the various construction defects set
forth in [Cannon's] reports were substantial factors in causing the mold in [her]
home."
To support her argument, plaintiff cites toxic tort cases involving asbestos
exposure. Those cases, however, focus on the plaintiff's medical causation, i.e.,
whether the defendant's defective product was a substantial factor in causing the
plaintiff's injuries. See, e.g., Grassis v. Johns-Manville Corp., 248 N.J. Super.
446, 457 (App. Div. 1991) (permitting the plaintiff, who alleged asbestos
exposure caused his cancer to demonstrate the "defendant's conduct or defective
product was a proximate cause of the condition, i.e., a substantial factor in
bringing the condition about"); Sholtis v. Am. Cyanamid Co., 238 N.J. Super.
8, 26 (App. Div. 1989) (observing asbestos cases are approached "differently,
primarily because asbestosis and resulting cancers are recognized as being the
products of cumulative exposure").
Conversely, here the dispositive issue on summary judgment was not
medical causation, i.e., whether mold caused plaintiff's injuries, but whether
defendant's alleged defective construction caused water infiltration, which
caused the presence of mold in plaintiff's residence. When deposed, plaintiff's
construction expert, Cannon, testified he could not link any construction defects
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or any water infiltration with the presence of mold in plaintiff's townhouse. We
therefore discern no basis to disturb the motion judge's conclusion that plaintiff
failed to "demonstrat[e] that any of the alleged construction defects by
[defendant] proximately caused the mold."
III.
We next consider plaintiff's argument that the motion judge "disregarded
[her] invitation to hold a Rule 104(a) hearing to determine the admissibility of
Mr. Cannon's testimony." 3 The decision whether to hold a Rule 104 hearing is
within the sound discretion of the trial court. Kemp v. State, 174 N.J. 412, 432
(2002). In Kemp, the trial court granted summary judgment – without
conducting a hearing – finding the opinion of the plaintiffs' expert was not
sufficiently reliable under N.J.R.E. 702. Id. at 415, 423. The Supreme Court
reversed, finding plain error in the trial court's refusal to conduct a hearing to
determine the testimony's reliability. Id. at 432.
Kemp followed Rubanick v. Witco Chemical Corp., 125 N.J. 421, 593
(1991). In Rubanick, the Court stated that when a trial court is "faced with a not
3
Plaintiff has not cited the place in the record where her request for a hearing
was made, and the motion judge's decision does not reflect that request. Because
defendant does not challenge plaintiff's representation, we consider plaintiff's
argument on the merits.
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yet generally accepted theory of causation," the court should conduct a "hearing
to assess the soundness of the proffered methodology and the qualifications of
the expert." Id. at 454. A "[p]laintiff's burden is to demonstrate that the
methodology used by [the expert] . . . is consistent with sound scientific
principles and methodologies accepted in the medical and scientific
communities." Kemp, 174 N.J. at 431; see also In re Accutane Litigation, 234
N.J. 340, 381 (2018).
Unlike the defendants in Accutane, Kemp and Rubanick, here, defendant
neither challenged the reliability of Cannon's conclusions under N.J.R.E. 702,
nor otherwise contended his opinion was inadmissible. See also Fairfax Fin.
Holdings Ltd. v. S.A.C. Capital Mgmt., LLC, 450 N.J. Super. 1, 100 n.50 (App.
Div. 2017) (observing that "ordinarily the best practice would be for a trial judge
to permit the examination of the scope of an expert's opinion – when its
admissibility is challenged – at a pretrial N.J.R.E. 104(a) hearing"). As the
motion judge correctly recognized, defendant did not contend Cannon's opinion
was net. Instead, defendant claimed Cannon failed to demonstrate any of
defendant's alleged construction defects proximately caused the water
infiltration in plaintiff's unit that, in turn, caused mold that, in turn, caused
plaintiff's injury. Because plaintiff does not contend Cannon's link in the
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proximate causation chain involved a unique causation theory, the concerns that
prompted the Court in Kemp and Rubanick to remand for a hearing are not
present here.
We also recognize a hearing would have been appropriate if the grounds
for Cannon's opinion "were not sufficiently explained and the 'reasons and
foundations for them inadequately and perhaps confusingly explicated.'" Kemp,
174 at 429 (citation omitted). In that regard, a Rule 104 hearing may have
permitted Cannon "to identify the factual basis for his conclusion." Id. at 427.
Notably, however, plaintiff did not file a sworn statement from Cannon
explaining the deficiencies in his deposition testimony in response to defendant's
motion. And before us, plaintiff has not identified any facts Cannon would
explain at a hearing. See Shelcusky v. Garjulio, 172 N.J. 185, 201-02 (2002)
(noting the utility of an affidavit "where the contradiction is reasonably
explained, where an affidavit does not contradict patently and sharply the earlier
deposition testimony, or where confusion or lack of clarity existed at the time
of the deposition questioning and the affidavit reasonably clarifies the affiant's
earlier statement").
Instead, quoting Kemp, 174 N.J. at 427, plaintiff asserts Cannon should
be permitted "to opine as to his conclusions and methodologies so that the trial
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court could determine whether his testimony was 'based on scientifically sound
reasoning or unsubstantiated personal beliefs.'" That request seeks to explain
methodologies that are not in issue. Because plaintiff did not identify any facts
that would come to light in a hearing, or otherwise explain the contradiction
between Cannon's unsworn reports and deposition testimony, we conclude a
hearing was not necessary.
To the extent not addressed, plaintiff's remaining arguments lack
sufficient merit to warrant discussion in our written opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(1)(E).
Affirmed.
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