Opinion ID: 2626450
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the materiality of the delta report is in dispute and properly left to the finder of fact to determine

Text: ¶ 27 The court of appeals held the Delta report to be material as a matter of law. Woodside takes issue with this determination for three reasons: the Delta report did not concern the Yazd-Yousefi lot, the court of appeals misread the Delta report in ways that led it to believe it was relevant to the Yazd-Yousefi lot when it was not, and Woodside's soil study on the Panorama Point property including the Yazd-Yousefi lot superseded any materiality to which the Delta report might make claim. ¶ 28 We do not believe that the Delta report has earned the designation of material as a matter of law and therefore reverse the court of appeals on this point. Neither do we accept Woodside's invitation to stamp the Delta report immaterial as a matter of law. Rather, we find that the question of the report's materiality is best suited for the finder of fact to answer. ¶ 29 Woodside's contention that the Delta report cannot be material because it describes soil conditions on land other than the Yazd-Yousefi lot has little to recommend it. Property boundaries are seldom drawn with soil composition in mind, and information about the suitability of soil for supporting a dwelling would more likely than not be relevant to predicting the soil conditions on similar adjacent land. We decline to categorically deem immaterial all information concerning property not owned by the party affected by unsuitable soil conditions. For the purpose of determining materiality in this case, property boundaries are legally insignificant. ¶ 30 Whatever errors in interpreting the Delta report may have predisposed the court of appeals to conclude that the report was material as a matter of law were not so significant as to persuade us to summarily rule the report immaterial. The Delta report disclosed soil instability of a magnitude that caused the Church to scuttle its building plans for the site. There were no obvious physical or topographical features that would distinguish the Church parcel from the other portions of Panorama Point. In our view, these considerations are sufficient to place the question of the Delta report's materiality in dispute. ¶ 31 Finally, we reject Woodside's assertion that by commissioning its own soil study on property that included the Yazd-Yousefi lot, it rendered immaterial all other information bearing on the soil conditions at Panorama Point. Woodside insists that it had no knowledge of the Delta report. Based on this assertion, its soil study was necessarily prepared without the benefit of information contained in the Delta report concerning conditions on the adjacent parcel. At this stage of the litigation, we do not know whether knowledge of soil conditions on the Church parcel would have affected the Woodside soil report. Certainly, it is possible that it could. If the finder of fact were to determine that Woodside knew of the Delta report but failed to inform its soils expert of its existence and contents, the weight of the Woodside soil report could be substantially diminished.