No Harm, No Foul California high court considers "latent defects" lawsuits by Ted Cushman The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear a controversial construction defect case that may significantly change the state's legal landscape. In the San Diego County case of Aas v. Superior Court, or "Aas," the state's 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that multifamily and tract builders in the state cannot be held liable for the cost of repairing so-called "latent defects." In the words of the three-judge panel, "homeowners…do not have a private right of action against developers and contractors for recovery of purely economic losses they sustain as a result of construction defects in mass-produced housing…which have not yet caused