3.8.13 Privity Is Not Essential to the ELR

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

The existence of privity, as the essential predicate for the ELR, was not recognized by the court of appeals in Carstens v. City of Phoenix.^[43] There, a homeowner sued the City of Phoenix and three of its building inspectors, in tort, for failing to discover serious construction defects in the homes he purchased. So severe were the defects that the home had to be demolished and rebuilt, subjecting the homeowner to significant damages, albeit, all economic¾the repair or replacement of the defective work itself. The inspectors arguably owed a duty of care to the homeowner and appeared to have been grossly negligent. Privity between the litigants was not deemed determinative. For this court, it sufficed that the homeowner had...