Mark Wayne Small v. Zhu Lin

STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT MARK WAYNE SMALL, II, HILLARY NO. 2025 CW 0410 HOOD MAYARD, MARK W. SMALL, AND MARIA A. SMALL VERSUS ZHU LIN, INDIVIDUALLY, AS FORMER INDEPENDENT ADMINISTRATOR OF THE SUCCESSION OF YUN TAO LIU, AND AS NATURAL TUTRIX OF MICHELLE YUTONG LIU AND JORDAN YUFET LIU SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 In Re: Zhu Lin, individually, as former independent administrator of the succession of Yun Tao Liu, and as natural tutrix of Michelle Yutong Liu and Jordan Yufei Liu, applying for supervisory writs, 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of Bast Baton Rouge, No. 687288, BEFORE : THERIOT, LANIER, AND MILLER, JJ. WRIT GRANTED. The district court’s February 21, 2025 judgment denying the motion for summary judgment filed by defendant, Zhu Lin, individually, as former independent administrator of the succession of Yun Tao Liu, and as natural tutrix of Michelle Yutong Liu and Jordan Yufei Liu, is reversed. The seller warrants the buyer against redhibitory defects, or vices in the thing sold. See La. Civ. Code art. 2520. A seller owes no warranty for defects in the thing that were known to the buyer at the time of the sale, or for defects that should have been discovered by a reasonably prudent buyer of such things. See La. Civ. Code art. 2521. Defendant, the seller, provided plaintiffs, the buyers, with two property disclosure statements, both of which disclosed prior floods in 2015 and 2016. A buyer has no complaint when a redhibitory defect was discoverable by simple inspection, known to the buyer, and acknowledged by the seller before the property was purchased. See Nicholson v. Ellerbe, 434 So.2d 1146 (La. App. lst Cir. 1983). A buyer put on notice of a property’s propensity for flooding should know the property’s propensity for flooding warrants further inquiry into defects discoverable by a reasonably prudent buyer. See Smith v. Grantham, 2023-0881 (La. App. Ist Cir. 9/4/24), 394 So.3d 316 , 340. Plaintiffs failed to produce factual support sufficient to establish a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the alleged defects were unknown and not discoverable by a reasonably prudent buyer. Accordingly, the defendant’s motion for summary judgment is granted and the claims of plaintiffs, Mark Wayne Small II, Hillary Hood Mayard, Mark W. Small, and Maria A. Small, against defendant, Zhu Lin, individually, as former independent administrator of the succession of Yun Tao Liu, and as natural tutrix of Michelle Yutong Liu and Jordan Yufei Liu, are dismissed. MRT WIL SMM CQURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT hath Avie DHPUTY CLERK OF COURT FOR THE COURT