Court Opinion

ID: 9408730
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-13 16:04:58.421504+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:46.275017
License: Public Domain

Filed 7/13/23 Lee v. Cardiff CA1/1
                  NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
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          IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

                                      FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

                                                   DIVISION ONE

 DIANNE LEE,
           Plaintiff and Appellant,                                     A163817

 v.                                                                    (Contra Costa
 DAVID BRIAN CARDIFF,                                                 County
                                                                         Super. Ct. No.
           Defendant and Respondent.
                                                                      C1901123)

         This is an appeal from an order denying a post-trial motion for attorney
fees. We affirm.
                                                  BACKGROUND
         Plaintiff and appellant Dianne Lee entered into a contract with
defendant and respondent David Brian Cardiff (who does business as
Advantage Pools Bay Area) for extensive landscaping work at Lee’s new
home. The contract price of $231,500 was segregated between the
construction of a pool and spa ($88,400) and the construction of other major
landscaping items, including a pavilion with gas and electrical, an outdoor
kitchen, an outdoor fireplace, and the installation of pavers, as well as other
assorted landscaping items ($143,000). Disputes arose as the work
progressed, with Cardiff finally leaving the project.

                                                               1
      Lee sued, asserting a number of causes of action, including breach of
contract, negligent construction, and violation of contractor licensing laws,
and seeking damages and disgorgement of what she had paid.1 Following a
bench trial, the court issued a 21-page statement of decision. The court
largely rejected Lee’s claims pertaining to the construction of the pool, agreed
with some of her claims pertaining to the construction of the pavilion and
some of the other landscaping items, and agreed with her claim that Cardiff
had violated state contracting laws by hiring workers who were not licensed
contractors and treating them as independent contractors, and not
employees, for purposes of worker’s compensation insurance coverage. Based
on the latter claim, the court ordered disgorgement plus interest of $238,470.
It also awarded contract and tort damages of $236,634, allocating $35,000 to
deficiencies with the pool. The court rejected her fraud and elder abuse
claims.
      The contract did not have an attorney fees clause, and Lee
subsequently moved for fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1029.8
and Business and Professions Code section 7168.2 The court declined to
award discretionary fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1029.8, ruling
Cardiff had not knowingly violated the state contractor licensing law and
disgorgement, in any event, was a sufficient penalty for violating that law.
The court further ruled that because Lee was “unsuccessful on the vast
majority of [her] swimming pool claims,” there was no prevailing party under
section 7168, which authorizes fees to “the prevailing party” in cases “arising
out of a contract for swimming pool construction.” (§ 7168.)

      1   Lee’s husband was also a plaintiff but has since passed away.
      2 All further statutory cites are to the Business and Professions Code
unless otherwise indicated.

                                        2
      On appeal, Lee raises a single issue—that the trial court erred in
denying her attorney fees under section 7168. Notably, she does not take
issue with any of the trial court’s findings or rulings on the merits of her
claims. Nor does she challenge the denial of fees under Code of Civil
Procedure section 1029.8.
                                DISCUSSION
The Pertinent Fee Statute
      Section 7168 provides as follows:
      “In any action between a person contracting for construction of a
      swimming pool and a swimming pool contractor arising out of a
      contract for swimming pool construction, the court shall award
      reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party.”

      This statutory provision was enacted in 1969 as part of a new statutory
scheme governing “contracts for swimming pool construction,” added to the
Civil Code as former sections 1725 et seq. (Stats. 1969, ch. 583, § 1.) The
new scheme “specif[ied] certain terms that must be contained in ‘every
contract for the construction of a swimming pool.’ ” (King v. Hinderstein
(1981) 122 Cal.App.3d 430, 436 (King); 52 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 245, 247–250
(1969).) The language of the fee statute as enacted is virtually identical to
that of the present statute. (Cf. § 7168 & Stats. 1969, ch. 583, § 1.)
      In the initial provisions of the new statutory scheme, the Legislature
expressly stated its purpose as follows:
      “(a) The Legislature finds that a need exists for a more complete
      understanding between customers and contractors engaged in the
      swimming pool construction business regarding the content and
      conditions of transactions for swimming pool construction; that many
      misunderstandings have arisen because of the lack of a standard body
      of requirements relating to such transactions, and that certain sales
      and business practices and construction practices, have worked
      financial hardship upon the people of this state; that the swimming
      pool construction business has a significant impact on the economy and

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      well-being of this state, its communities, and it’s individual citizens;
      that the problems which have arisen relative to the swimming pool
      construction business are peculiar to that business; and that the
      provisions of this title relating to the swimming pool construction
      business are necessary for the public welfare.

      “(b) The Legislature declares that the purpose of this title is to create
      an area of understanding and to establish standards which will
      safeguard the people against imposition and financial hardship, and
      encourage competition, fair dealing, and prosperity in the swimming
      pool construction business.” (Former Civ. Code, § 1725, subds. (a) &
      (b); Stats. 1969, ch. 583, § 1.)

      “This declaration evinced a legislative concern for protecting the public
from fly-by-night contractors–independent from the builders of the
residential house associated with the property–who abandon pool work after
obtaining a substantial down payment or who finish the work in a
substandard manner.” (King, supra, 122 Cal.App.3d at p. 439.) “Legislative
committee analyses on the payment schedule requirements under the former
Civil Code scheme (former Civ. Code, § 1730.5; Sen. Bill No. 1836),” for
example, “show[ed] concern over the fact that consumer complaints to the
Contractors License Board about swimming pool construction were
proportionately higher than for other types of construction.” (Ibid., fn. 16.)
      In 1976, the Attorney General was asked to address the interplay of
these Civil Code provisions with provisions then newly added to the Business
and Professions Code as article 10 of chapter 9 of division 3 governing “home
improvement contracts” and codified as section 7150 et seq.
(59 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 549 (1976).) This new statutory scheme stated, in
part, that it “ ‘shall apply only to home improvement contracts’ ” for “
‘proposed repairing, remodeling, altering, converting, or modernizing such
building or structure.’ ” (Id. at p. 550.) It further stated, in part, that

                                         4
“ ‘repairing, remodeling, altering, converting, or modernizing of, or adding to,
residential property’ ” included, but was not limited to, “ ‘the construction,
erection, replacement, or improvement of driveways, swimming pools,
terraces, patios, landscaping, fences, porches, garages, fallout shelters, [and]
basements.” (Id. at pp. 551–552, italics omitted.)
      The Attorney General concluded these new provisions of the Business
and Professions Code applied where a contract for the construction “of a new
swimming pool include[s] modifications to buildings or structures,” but did
not otherwise apply and in such case the contract would be subject to only the
Civil Code contracting requirements. (59 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at
p. 552.) The Attorney General additionally concluded that in those situations
where both the home improvement contract provisions of the Business and
Professions Code and the swimming pool contract requirement provisions of
the Civil Code applied, the latter controlled, as they were “special provisions
dealing expressly with construction of new swimming pools” and took
“precedence over a conflicting general statute [such as the home improvement
contract provisions of the Business and Professions Code] covering the same
subject matter.” (Id. at p. 554.)
      In 1979, the Legislature moved the swimming pool construction
contract requirements set forth in the Civil Code, essentially unchanged, to
the Business and Professions Code as a new article—article 11, of chapter 9
of division 3.3 (Former § 7165 et seq.; Stats. 1979, ch. 747, § 2; see King,
supra, 122 Cal.App.3d at p. 436, fn. 8 [the Civil Code provisions governing
the construction of swimming pools were repealed in 1979 “and incorporated

      3 The only substantive change in the statutory scheme was the
addition of a provision declaring any violation of the new article 11 a
misdemeanor punishable by a fine and/or incarceration in the county jail.
(Former § 7173; Stats. 1979, ch. 747, § 2.)

                                        5
with minor revisions into the Business and Professions Code”].) The attorney
fees provision originally set forth in the Civil Code statutory scheme
remained the same and was recodified as former section 7169. (Former
§ 7169; Stats. 1979, ch, 747, § 2.)
      The following year, in 1980, the Legislature “clarified the incongruity
formerly existing between provisions regulating swimming pool construction
contracts and home improvement contracts.” (King, supra, 122 Cal.App.3d at
p. 436, fn. 8.) This included repealing the article 11 heading, so that the
provisions governing home improvement contracts and those specifically
governing swimming pools contracts were included in article 10. (Stats.
1980, ch. 138, §§ 6–10.) The attorney fee provision that was part of the
statutory scheme specifically governing the construction of swimming pools,
again, remained unchanged. (See Stats. 1980, ch. 138, §§ 6–10 [no changes to
§ 7169].) In 1991, the fee provision was renumbered as section 7168. (Stats.
1991, ch. 1160, § 53.) Its language remained, and has since remained,
unchanged. (Ibid.)
      What is apparent from this history is that the Legislature enacted the
statutory fee provision at issue specifically to provide recompense to the party
prevailing in a dispute over the construction of a swimming pool. The
provision had its genesis in a statutory scheme dealing exclusively with
“contracts for swimming pool construction.” (Former Civ. Code, § 1725 et
seq., capitalization omitted; Stats. 1969, ch. 583, § 1.) These provisions were
later moved wholesale into the Business and Professions Code as article 11 of
chapter 9 of division 3. (Former § 7165 et seq.; Stats. 1979, ch. 747, § 2.) A
year later, the article 11 designation was repealed, bringing these provisions,
again with virtually no substantive change, within article 10. That the fee
provision has remained ensconced within the statutory provisions specifically

                                       6
governing the construction of swimming pools, and that its language has
remained virtually unchanged since its original enactment and codification in
the Civil Code, reflects an unchanged and singular legislative intent—to
reward the prevailing party in a dispute over the construction of a swimming
pool.
        It is also significant that when the Legislature repealed the article 11
heading in 1980, thereby bringing the statutory scheme governing swimming
pool construction contracts within article 10, it did so without change to the
attorney fees provision that had been part of this specific statutory scheme
since its enactment in 1969. The Legislature could have, at that time,
expanded the fee statute to provide for fees to the prevailing party in disputes
over other home improvements, including, for example, driveways, patios,
landscaping, fences, porches, and garages. (See § 7151, subd. (a).) But it did
not. Rather, the Legislature has provided for fees in connection with claims
based on statutory provisions set forth in article 10 in three specific
contexts—violations of prohibitions and limitations on the financing of home
improvements (§ 7159.2, subd. (f)), home improvement contracts procured by
fraud (§ 7160), and disputes over the construction of swimming pools
(§ 7168).
The Trial Court’s “No Prevailing Party” Determination
        The trial court found that while Lee’s contract “did involve the
construction of a swimming pool, it also involved a great deal of other
construction,” which “included a pavilion, outdoor kitchen, pavers, patio tiles,
walkways, landscaping, seating walls, a floating counter, electrical systems, a
spa, and many other things.” It concluded “[n]one of these non-swimming
pool projects can reasonably be categorized as part of “a contract for

                                         7
swimming pool construction,” and as a result, Lee “cannot be entitled to an
award of attorneys’ fees for any work related to those projects.”
      As we have observed, Lee has not challenged any of the trial court’s
factual findings. Rather, she maintains the court erred as a matter of law by
confining the applicability of section 7168 to her claims pertaining to the
construction of the swimming pool and basing its “prevailing party”
determination on the degree to which Lee succeeded, or failed to succeed, on
those claims. She asserts, in a nutshell, that because both the swimming
pool construction and non-swimming pool construction projects were set forth
in a single contract with Cardiff (who held licenses for swimming pool
construction, landscaping, and concrete work), her claims all “arose” from a
swimming pool construction contract and section 7168 therefore applies to all
the contracted-for work. The trial court rejected this assertion. So do we.
      As we have chronicled, the fee provision at issue was enacted as part of
a statutory scheme pertaining specifically, and exclusively, to swimming pool
construction contracts, and the Legislature’s plainly expressed purpose was
to provide additional recompense to the prevailing party in a dispute over the
construction of a swimming pool. The language of this statutory fee provision
has never been altered, even when it was brought within the auspices of
article 10 of chapter 9 of division 3 of the Business and Professions Code.
Moreover, a review of the entirety of the statutory provisions within this
article reveals they include two other statutory fee provisions applicable to
two other specific contexts.
      In short, the Legislature knows how to provide for statutory fees when
it chooses to do so. And, indeed, with respect to the statutes set forth in
article 10, it has done so in three specific contexts. The Legislature could
have, of course, made any of these fee statutes more expansive. But it did

                                        8
not. (See People v. Murphy (2001) 25 Cal.4th 136, 159 [other statutory
provisions demonstrated that when Legislature “wants a sentence calculated
without consideration of some circumstance, it knows how to use language
clearly expressing that intent”]; Rittiman v. Public Utilities Com. (2022)
79 Cal.App.5th 1130, 1056–1057 [other statutory provisions indicated
Legislature knew how to add additional exemption language if it chose to do
so].) Nor is it appropriate for us to undertake this legislative task. (See Id.,
at p. 1055 [the courts “ ‘ “ ‘may not add to or detract from a statute or insert
or delete words to accomplish a purpose that does not appear on its face or
from its legislative history,’ ” ’ ” quoting Goals for Autism v. Rosas (2021)
65 Cal.App.5th 1041, 1046].)
      Lee takes the trial court to task for citing to California Pools, Inc. v.
Pazargad (1982) 131 Cal.App.3d 601 (California Pools). In that case, a
homeowner defended against a breach of contract claim by a contractor
seeking payment for the construction of “an outdoor rock spa,” arguing the
contractor was barred from recovery by the statutory provisions governing
swimming pool construction contracts. (Id. at pp. 603–604.) The Court of
Appeal rejected the homeowner’s argument “that spas, like swimming pools,
are artificially created pools or tanks of water, that spas are frequently built
by swimming pool contractors, that the evils which the statute sought to
remedy vis-a-vis swimming pool construction exist with respect to spa
construction as well, and that this court should effectuate the legislative
purpose by interpreting ‘swimming pool’ to cover spas.” (Id. at p. 605.)
      “A far more basic rule of statutory interpretation,” said the court,
“holds . . . that if the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, there
can be no room for interpretation. Effect must be given to the plain meaning
of the words chosen by the Legislature.” (California Pools, supra,

                                        9
131 Cal.App.3d at p. 605.) It went on to state “[t]he term ‘swimming pool’ is
thoroughly unambiguous. Neither when it first enacted the statute in 1969,
nor when it transferred the legislation to the Business and Professions Code
in 1979, did the Legislature define the term swimming pool, or assign to it a
meaning other than its ordinary meaning, or give any indication that it
intended a broader meaning to apply.” (Ibid.) “It is not the role of the court
to expand the term’s obvious and ordinary meaning.” (Ibid.) The Legislature
could, of course, include spas within the ambit of the legislation. But “[t]he
argument that spas should be included in the statute to further the public
policy which the statute seeks to promote should properly be addressed to the
Legislature.” (Ibid.)
      Lee maintains California Pools “is factually inapposite.” And, indeed,
the case involved facts different from those here. But that does not detract
from the reason the trial court cited to the case—to illustrate that the
statutory scheme of which the fee provision is a part, by purpose and plain
language, is directed at disputes over the construction of swimming pools and
not at disputes over other kinds of home improvement projects.
      Lee urges that King, supra, 122 Cal.App.3d 430, is a more persuasive
case. However, King does not undercut the statutory analysis in California
Pools that is pertinent here. The issue in King was whether the statutory
scheme governing swimming pool construction contracts encompassed only
the “construction of a conventional pool rather than the installation of a
prefabricated pool.” (Id. at p. 438, italics omitted.) After pointing out that
much of the construction work involved in installing an in-ground pool,
whether traditionally built or built using a prefabricated shell, is the same
(ibid.), and that the public policy underlying the legislation is the same
regardless of the way in which a swimming pool is constructed (id. at p. 439),

                                       10
the court concluded “the logical import of the legislative enactment was
regulation of builders who contracted to install a swimming pool as a fixed
part of a buyer’s property, be it by conventional construction or by
installation of a prefabricated unit.” (Id. at p. 440.)
      Thus, King examined the meaning of the phrase “ ‘contract for the
construction of a swimming pool’ ” and sensibly concluded “swimming pool
construction as used in former [Civil Code] section 1725 et seq. should be held
to refer to subsurface installation of a prefabricated pool which becomes a
fixed part of the residential realty.” (King, supra, 122 Cal.App.3d at pp. 436,
440.) The case does not remotely support Lee’s assertion that the statutory
provision for fees in connection with disputes over the construction of
swimming pools should be expansively interpreted to include disputes over
the construction of other types of home improvements.
      Lee’s emphasis on the public policy reasons the Legislature enacted the
statutory scheme governing “home improvement projects” and invocation of
the general principle that consumer protection statutes should be interpreted
broadly is also unavailing. As we have recited, section 7168 was not enacted
as part of the statutory scheme governing “home improvement” contracts.
Rather, it was enacted as part of the statutory scheme, enacted a decade
earlier, specifically governing swimming pool construction contracts.
Moreover, when the Legislature moved this specific statutory scheme into the
Business and Professions Code as article 11 (of chapter 9 of division 3), the
language of the pertinent fee provision remained unchanged. It also
remained unchanged when the Legislature subsequently repealed the
separate article heading, bringing this statutory scheme within article 10.
And while consumer protection statutes are to be broadly construed, this
principle does not authorize the courts to disregard the plain language of

                                        11
such a statute or the legislative history of the statutory scheme of which it is
a part. (See Environmental Health Advocates, Inc. v. Sream, Inc. (2022)
83 Cal.App.5th 721, 733 [protective purpose of statutory scheme “would be
stymied by an overly broad interpretation . . . not supported by its language
or governing regulations”]; Rodriguez v. FCA US, LLC (2022) 77 Cal.App.5th
209, 215, 220–222, rev. granted July 13, 2022, S274625 [rejecting expansive
reading of language in Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act (Civ. Code,
§ 1790 et seq.) where not warranted by fundamental principles of statutory
interpretation, including language of statute and legislative history].)
      It is also a fundamental rule of construction that the courts “ ‘must
select the construction that comports most closely with the apparent intent of
the Legislature, with a view to promoting rather than defeating the general
purpose of the statute, and avoid an interpretation that would lead to absurd
consequences.’ ” (People v. Hernandez (2021) 60 Cal.App.5th 94, 106, quoting
People v. Jenkins (1995) 10 Cal.4th 234, 246; accord, People v. Bullard (2020)
9 Cal.5th 94, 107 [courts must interpret statutes to avoid absurd results];
People v. Cook (2015) 60 Cal.4th 922, 938, fn. 2 [courts interpret statutes to
“avoid an absurd result the Legislature could not have intended”]; In re Greg
F. (2012) 55 Cal.4th 393, 410 [“courts are obligated to ‘adopt a common sense
construction over one leading to mischief or absurdity’ ”].)
      Lee’s proffered interpretation of section 7168 would lead to such
results. If she, for example, had hired a different contractor to construct the
pavilion, outdoor kitchen, lay the pavers, and do the landscaping, she could
not, even under the interpretation she now advocates, seek fees under section
7168. The Legislature could not have intended that fees under section 7168
turn on whether or not a swimming pool and other non-swimming pool

                                       12
projects are done by the same contractor or different contractors. It is an
absurd result and not one we can, or should, embrace.
      In sum, the trial court did not err in ruling section 7168 applied solely
to Lee’s claims pertaining to the construction of the swimming pool and not to
her claims pertaining to the non-pool projects.
      The trial court went on to conclude there was “no prevailing party” in
connection with the swimming pool claims. As the court explained, Lee
“claimed that a massive repair was necessary that included a costly stitch
pier wall on the slope side of the pool or the destruction of the existing pool
entirely followed by reconstruction with significant underpinning. The cost of
such repairs approached $200,000.” The court, however, “found [Lee] did not
establish any of these claims and that there was insufficient evidence that
the pool was experiencing any form of movement.” While the court agreed
“the pool plaster, tile and coping” were “defective and awarded a total of
$35,000 in damages” for those items, it went on to point out “[m]uch of that
amount was for the plaster repair, a task Defendant Cardiff had offered to
perform at no charge prior to suit.” In short, the trial court concluded that
with respect to the swimming pool, Lee did not come close to accomplishing
her litigation objective.
      All Lee has to say in her appellate briefing about the trial court’s “no
prevailing party” determination is that the court abused its discretion in this
regard because its “initial premise [i.e., that the fee statute applied only to
her swimming pool claims] was in error” and therefore “the conclusion
flowing from that premise was equally flawed.” In other words, because the
court’s threshold ruling was, according to Lee, “contrary to the statutory
authority and policies promoted by” article 10 (of chapter 9 of division 3 of the
Business and Professions Code), the court committed a “manifest abuse of

                                        13
discretion” in concluding she had not prevailed. Thus, Lee’s challenge to the
trial court’s “no prevailing party” determination is simply a recycling of her
argument that the court erred in ruling the statutory fee provision applied
only to her swimming pool claims. Having rejected that argument for all the
reasons discussed above, we do not consider the court’s “no prevailing party”
ruling further.4
                                DISPOSITION
      The fee order and ensuing judgment are AFFIRMED. Respondent to
recover costs on appeal.

      4We therefore need not, and do not, consider any other arguments
made by the parties as to the court’s “no prevailing party” ruling.

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                                          _________________________
                                          Banke, J.

We concur:

_________________________
Humes, P.J.

_________________________
Bowen, J.*

**Judge of the Contra Costa County Superior Court, assigned by the Chief
Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.

A163817, Lee v. Cardiff

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