David Miolen Et Al. v. Doug Saffles Et Al.

Plaintiffs David Miolen and Ann Miolen, husband and wife, hired contractor Doug Saffles to install, on the backyard of the plaintiffs' property, a pool, additional water features, a bathhouse, outdoor kitchen and fireplace, and a large amount of stone pavers and stairs. Because their home was on a sloping hillside, the work involved moving a lot of earth and building two retaining walls to support the project. When the work was about 90% done, plaintiffs became dissatisfied and ordered defendant off the site. They sued him for breach of contract, negligence in failing to perform in a good and workmanlike manner, misrepresentation, and violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-101 et seq. (Supp. 2018). Defendant counterclaimed for unpaid work. The trial court held that defendant violated the TCPA by misrepresenting that both walls had been engineered by a professional engineer, and by charging plaintiffs $10,000 in "engineering" expenses that were not incurred by an engineer. The court awarded plaintiffs $68,974 in compensatory damages and assessed treble damages for the TCPA violation, plus plaintiffs' costs and attorney's fees. The total amount of $232,285.31 was offset by a judgment in defendant's favor on his counterclaim in the amount of $12,061.75. As calculated in our opinion, the net award to plaintiffs is reduced to $127,727.56. The trial court's judgment, as modified, is affirmed.