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17CV310601
Santa Clara — Civil
Jeffrey H. Belote, SBN 104218
Melissa M. Palozola, SBN 278858
CLARK HILL LLP
One Embarcadero Center, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94111
Telephone: 415.984.8500
Facsimile: 415.984.8599
Email: jbelote@clarkhill.com
Email: mpalozola@clarkhill.com
Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Cross-Defendants
YYOUQIN CAO AND XINRONG JIANG
R. Nguy
Electronically Filed
by Superior Court of CA,
County of Santa Clara,
on 1/19/2021 5:11 PM
Reviewed By: R. Nguyen
Case #17CV310601
Envelope: 5669497
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA
YOUQIN CAO, an Individual and
XINRONG JIANG, an Individual,
Plaintiffs,
Vv.
CALIFORNIA HOME BUILDERS & DESIGN,
INC. dba CALIFORNIA HOMES & DESIGNS,
INC., a California Corporation;
CALIFORNIA HOMES AND KITCHEN
DESIGN CENTER, INC., a California
Corporation; WEC ASSOCIATES, INC., a
California Corporation; and
DOES 2 through 100,
Defendants.
Case No. 17-CV-310601
DECLARATION OF DON HILLEBRANDT IN
SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS AND CROSS-
DEFENDANTS YOUQIN CAO AND
XINRONG JIANG’S OPPOSITION TO WEC
AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR
SUMMARY ADJUDICATION
[Filed concurrently with Memorandum of Points
and Authorities in Opposition to Motion for
Summary Adjudication; Separate Statement; Decl.
of Youqin Cao; Decl. of M. Palozola; Request for
Judicial Notice; Proposed Order]
Date: February 2, 2021
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Dept: 20
Complaint Filed: May 19, 2017
FAC Filed: August 15, 2017
AND ALL RELATED CROSS-ACTIONS.
1
DECL. OF D. HILLEBRANDT ISO PLAINTIFFS/CROSS-DEFS. YOUQIN CAO & XINRONG JIANG’S OPP. TO WEC
AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION
ClarkHill\67652\383450\261778005.v1-1/18/21I, Don Hillebrandt, G.E., C.E. hereby declare:
1. I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth herein, and if called as a witness to
testify thereto, I could competently and truthfully do so.
2s I am a California Registered Civil Engineer and a California Registered Geotechnical
Engineer. I have 55 years of experience as a consulting civil geotechnical engineer. I have qualified
as an expert in geotechnical and civil engineering matters numerous times in California Superior
Courts. I have personally investigated the causes of damage in hundreds of dwellings constructed on
shallow foundations bearing on expansive soils similar to the property in this case. A true and correct
copy of my CV is attached hereto as Exhibit A to this Declaration
3. My opinions are based on my investigation of this matter including the site inspections
performed by me or supervised by me, my geotechnical investigation of 2651 South Court in Palo
Alto, California (the “Property”), my review of the plans prepared of the home by WEC and
Associates Inc., my review of photographs taken during the construction of the dwelling, my testing
of the soils under the subject property, my previous 55 years of experience including prior forensic
investigations of foundations and my review of publicly available topographic maps and reports for
the Property.
4. I personally inspected the Property three times and in addition my technical engineer
under my direction and supervision inspected the Property. Specifically, (1) I performed site
reconnaissances and inspections of the exterior / interior / crawl-space areas of the dwelling on June
27, 2017 and February 11, 2020, (2) my engineering technician performed a floor-level survey on July
11, 2017, (3) I inspected four test pits excavated by Engineered Soil Repairs on February 21, 2020, (4)
my engineering technician sampled the subgrade soils in the crawl-space area on July 11, 2017, (5) I
sampled the soils at the bottoms of the four test pits on February 21, 2020, and (6) I performed
laboratory tests on the soil samples and (7) I performed office analyses on all available data.
Ss It is my opinion that the dwelling should not have been designed to be supported on
shallow spread-footing foundations bearing on highly expansive clay soils. Civil Engineer Ed Wu's
work on this project fell below the "Standard of Care" for professional engineers. Mr. Wu, who was
2
DECL. OF D. HILLEBRANDT ISO PLAINTIFFS/CROSS-DEFS. YOUQIN CAO & XINRONG JIANG’S OPP. TO WEC
AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION
ClarkHill\67652\383450\261778005.v1-1/18/21the "Engineer of Record" on the house, should have informed the Caos that a soil report must be
performed before Mr. Wu proceeded with his design of the foundations supporting the dwelling,
particularly since Mr. Wu and his designer, Jing Quan of WEC and Associates, Inc. (“WEC”) were
told prior to their design that the previous home occupying the site had foundation problems and
uneven floors.
6. The improper design and construction of the foundations supporting the Caos dwelling
have resulted in detrimental differential vertical movements of the foundations. This has resulted in
ongoing architectural damages to the dwelling and uneven floors. The shallow spread-footing found-
ations will continue to experience differential vertical movements and if not corrected, will cause
additional architectural damages and more pronounced out-of-level floors.
7. It is my opinion that WEC’s conduct violates pertinent portions of California Code of
Regulations, Title 16, Division 5, Sections 400-476, the Board of Professional Engineers, Land
Surveyors and Geologists based on my inspection and analysis of the site and the plans prepared by
WEC. As the responsible charge, Ed Wu, principal of WEC, had an express obligation pursuant to
California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Sections 404.1 to evaluate all alternatives prior to preparing
complete plans for the dwelling.
8. Providing the plans for permitting as undertaken by WEC was a misrepresentation to
both the City of Palo Alto and the Caos that the plans were complete and accurate and would provide
a solid foundation for the new home. Further, holding the plans out to the Caos as sufficient to
correct any past foundation issues without actually investigating the condition of the soil and what
specific type of foundation was needed for the Cao property was a further misrepresentation of the
completeness of the plans in violation of the California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Section
475(e)(2) which required that an engineer not submit plans that misrepresented the completeness of
the plans prepared to his client or other involved parties.
9. WEC’s failure is even more pronounced given the fact that it was public knowledge in
2011 for engineering professionals working in Palo Alto that there were issues with expansive soil in
Palo Alto.
3
DECL. OF D. HILLEBRANDT ISO PLAINTIFFS/CROSS-DEFS. YOUQIN CAO & XINRONG JIANG’S OPP. TO WEC
AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION
ClarkHill\67652\383450\261778005.v1-1/18/21a
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing
is true and correct and that this Declaration was executed this 18" day of January in the year 2021 in
Oakland, California.
Geen —
Don Hillebrandt
4
DECL. OF D. HILLEBRANDT ISO PLAINTIFFS/CROSS-DEFS. YOUQIN CAO & XINRONG JIANG’S OPP. TO WEC
AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION
ClarkHill\67652\383450\261778005.v1-1/18/21Exhibit ADon Hilleobrandt Associates - Geotechnical Consultants
6219 CliveAve. * Oakland, CA94611 © (510)612-1105 « dhillassoc@aol.com
DONALD H. SELLEBRANDT
EDUCATION:
University of California at Berkeley, BS in 1961 with Honors (Civil Engineering)
University of California at Berkeley, MS in 1964 with Honors (Geotechnical Engineering)
Licensed to practice civil engineering in California (CE 16338 received in 1966) and geotechnical
engineering in California (GE 400 received at its inception in 1987), Licensed to practice civil
engineering in Nevada (CE 3371 received in 1972). :
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:
American Society of Civil Engineers (Past Chairman of the Geotechnical Group),
Western Consultants Association, Chi Epsilon Honorary Society,
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Don Hillebrandt Associates (San Francisco and Oakland)
Principal, 1975 - date : =
Lowney/Kaldveer Associates (Oakland and San Francisco)
Principal, 1972 — 75 oan
Associate, 1971 - 72
Lee and Praszker (San Francisco)
Associates, 1970-71
Dames and Moore (San Francisco)
Project Engineer, 1967 - 70
Woodward-Clyde-Sherard & Associates (Oakland)
Staff Engineer, 1964 - 67
University of California at Berkeley
Teaching Assistant, 1963 — 64
U.S. Army-Corps of Engineers (Fort Bragg, North Carolina)
Engineering Officer ~ Company Commander, 1961 - 63wn
oo co
PROOF OF SERVICE
Iam a citizen of the United States and resident of the State of California. I am employed
in San Francisco, State of California, in the office of a member of the bar of this Court, at whose
direction the service was made. I am over the age of eighteen years and not a party to the within
action.
On January 19, 2021, I served the following documents in the manner described below:
DECLARATION OF DON HILLEBRANDT IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS AND
CROSS DEFENDANTS YOUQIN CAO AND XIXRONG JIANG’S OPPOSITIONTO
WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC. MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION
M BY ELECTRONIC SERVICE: By electronically mailing a true and correct copy
through Clark Hill LLP’s electronic mail system from lybrown@ClarkHill.com to the
email addresses set forth below.
On the following part(ies) in this action:
Kevin P. Kennedy, Esq.
E. Val Meneses, Esq.
KENNEDY & SOUZA, APC
7964 Arjons Drive, Suite I
San Diego, CA 92126
Brian Preston, Esq.
LAW OFFICES OF BRIAN PRESTON
111 North Market Street, Suite 705
San Jose, CA 95113
Ryan P. Harley, Esq.
Bradley Doucette, Esq.
COLLINS
MUIR + STEWART LLP
1999 Harrison Street, Suite 1700
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (858) 267-4127
Facsimile: (858) 267-4128
Email: kkennedy@kennedysouza.com
vmeneses@kennedysouza.com
Attorneys for Defendants California Home
and Kitchen Design Center, Inc., and
California Home Builders & Design, Inc.
Telephone: (408) 293-2700
Email: bp@brianprestonlaw.com
Co-Counsel for California Home and
Kitchen Design Center, Inc. and California
Home Builders & Design, Inc.
Telephone: (510) 844-5100
Facsimile: (510) 844-5101
Email: tharley@ccmslaw.com
bdoucettte@ccmslaw.com
Attorneys for WEC & Associates, Inc.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the
foregoing is true and correct.
Executed on January 19, 2021, at San Francisco, California.
Lydia M. Brown
3
DECLARATION OF DON HILLEBRANDT IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS AND CROSS DEFENDANTS
YOUQIN CAO AND XIXRONG JIANG’S OPPOSITIONTO WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC. MOTION FOR
SUMMARY ADJUDICATION
ClarkHill\67652\383450\261320342.v1-1/19/21
Preview
17CV310601 Santa Clara — Civil Jeffrey H. Belote, SBN 104218 Melissa M. Palozola, SBN 278858 CLARK HILL LLP One Embarcadero Center, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: 415.984.8500 Facsimile: 415.984.8599 Email: jbelote@clarkhill.com Email: mpalozola@clarkhill.com Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Cross-Defendants YYOUQIN CAO AND XINRONG JIANG R. Nguy Electronically Filed by Superior Court of CA, County of Santa Clara, on 1/19/2021 5:11 PM Reviewed By: R. Nguyen Case #17CV310601 Envelope: 5669497 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA YOUQIN CAO, an Individual and XINRONG JIANG, an Individual, Plaintiffs, Vv. CALIFORNIA HOME BUILDERS & DESIGN, INC. dba CALIFORNIA HOMES & DESIGNS, INC., a California Corporation; CALIFORNIA HOMES AND KITCHEN DESIGN CENTER, INC., a California Corporation; WEC ASSOCIATES, INC., a California Corporation; and DOES 2 through 100, Defendants. Case No. 17-CV-310601 DECLARATION OF DON HILLEBRANDT IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS AND CROSS- DEFENDANTS YOUQIN CAO AND XINRONG JIANG’S OPPOSITION TO WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION [Filed concurrently with Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Opposition to Motion for Summary Adjudication; Separate Statement; Decl. of Youqin Cao; Decl. of M. Palozola; Request for Judicial Notice; Proposed Order] Date: February 2, 2021 Time: 9:00 a.m. Dept: 20 Complaint Filed: May 19, 2017 FAC Filed: August 15, 2017 AND ALL RELATED CROSS-ACTIONS. 1 DECL. OF D. HILLEBRANDT ISO PLAINTIFFS/CROSS-DEFS. YOUQIN CAO & XINRONG JIANG’S OPP. TO WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION ClarkHill\67652\383450\261778005.v1-1/18/21I, Don Hillebrandt, G.E., C.E. hereby declare: 1. I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth herein, and if called as a witness to testify thereto, I could competently and truthfully do so. 2s I am a California Registered Civil Engineer and a California Registered Geotechnical Engineer. I have 55 years of experience as a consulting civil geotechnical engineer. I have qualified as an expert in geotechnical and civil engineering matters numerous times in California Superior Courts. I have personally investigated the causes of damage in hundreds of dwellings constructed on shallow foundations bearing on expansive soils similar to the property in this case. A true and correct copy of my CV is attached hereto as Exhibit A to this Declaration 3. My opinions are based on my investigation of this matter including the site inspections performed by me or supervised by me, my geotechnical investigation of 2651 South Court in Palo Alto, California (the “Property”), my review of the plans prepared of the home by WEC and Associates Inc., my review of photographs taken during the construction of the dwelling, my testing of the soils under the subject property, my previous 55 years of experience including prior forensic investigations of foundations and my review of publicly available topographic maps and reports for the Property. 4. I personally inspected the Property three times and in addition my technical engineer under my direction and supervision inspected the Property. Specifically, (1) I performed site reconnaissances and inspections of the exterior / interior / crawl-space areas of the dwelling on June 27, 2017 and February 11, 2020, (2) my engineering technician performed a floor-level survey on July 11, 2017, (3) I inspected four test pits excavated by Engineered Soil Repairs on February 21, 2020, (4) my engineering technician sampled the subgrade soils in the crawl-space area on July 11, 2017, (5) I sampled the soils at the bottoms of the four test pits on February 21, 2020, and (6) I performed laboratory tests on the soil samples and (7) I performed office analyses on all available data. Ss It is my opinion that the dwelling should not have been designed to be supported on shallow spread-footing foundations bearing on highly expansive clay soils. Civil Engineer Ed Wu's work on this project fell below the "Standard of Care" for professional engineers. Mr. Wu, who was 2 DECL. OF D. HILLEBRANDT ISO PLAINTIFFS/CROSS-DEFS. YOUQIN CAO & XINRONG JIANG’S OPP. TO WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION ClarkHill\67652\383450\261778005.v1-1/18/21the "Engineer of Record" on the house, should have informed the Caos that a soil report must be performed before Mr. Wu proceeded with his design of the foundations supporting the dwelling, particularly since Mr. Wu and his designer, Jing Quan of WEC and Associates, Inc. (“WEC”) were told prior to their design that the previous home occupying the site had foundation problems and uneven floors. 6. The improper design and construction of the foundations supporting the Caos dwelling have resulted in detrimental differential vertical movements of the foundations. This has resulted in ongoing architectural damages to the dwelling and uneven floors. The shallow spread-footing found- ations will continue to experience differential vertical movements and if not corrected, will cause additional architectural damages and more pronounced out-of-level floors. 7. It is my opinion that WEC’s conduct violates pertinent portions of California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Division 5, Sections 400-476, the Board of Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists based on my inspection and analysis of the site and the plans prepared by WEC. As the responsible charge, Ed Wu, principal of WEC, had an express obligation pursuant to California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Sections 404.1 to evaluate all alternatives prior to preparing complete plans for the dwelling. 8. Providing the plans for permitting as undertaken by WEC was a misrepresentation to both the City of Palo Alto and the Caos that the plans were complete and accurate and would provide a solid foundation for the new home. Further, holding the plans out to the Caos as sufficient to correct any past foundation issues without actually investigating the condition of the soil and what specific type of foundation was needed for the Cao property was a further misrepresentation of the completeness of the plans in violation of the California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Section 475(e)(2) which required that an engineer not submit plans that misrepresented the completeness of the plans prepared to his client or other involved parties. 9. WEC’s failure is even more pronounced given the fact that it was public knowledge in 2011 for engineering professionals working in Palo Alto that there were issues with expansive soil in Palo Alto. 3 DECL. OF D. HILLEBRANDT ISO PLAINTIFFS/CROSS-DEFS. YOUQIN CAO & XINRONG JIANG’S OPP. TO WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION ClarkHill\67652\383450\261778005.v1-1/18/21a I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct and that this Declaration was executed this 18" day of January in the year 2021 in Oakland, California. Geen — Don Hillebrandt 4 DECL. OF D. HILLEBRANDT ISO PLAINTIFFS/CROSS-DEFS. YOUQIN CAO & XINRONG JIANG’S OPP. TO WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION ClarkHill\67652\383450\261778005.v1-1/18/21Exhibit ADon Hilleobrandt Associates - Geotechnical Consultants 6219 CliveAve. * Oakland, CA94611 © (510)612-1105 « dhillassoc@aol.com DONALD H. SELLEBRANDT EDUCATION: University of California at Berkeley, BS in 1961 with Honors (Civil Engineering) University of California at Berkeley, MS in 1964 with Honors (Geotechnical Engineering) Licensed to practice civil engineering in California (CE 16338 received in 1966) and geotechnical engineering in California (GE 400 received at its inception in 1987), Licensed to practice civil engineering in Nevada (CE 3371 received in 1972). : PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES: American Society of Civil Engineers (Past Chairman of the Geotechnical Group), Western Consultants Association, Chi Epsilon Honorary Society, PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Don Hillebrandt Associates (San Francisco and Oakland) Principal, 1975 - date : = Lowney/Kaldveer Associates (Oakland and San Francisco) Principal, 1972 — 75 oan Associate, 1971 - 72 Lee and Praszker (San Francisco) Associates, 1970-71 Dames and Moore (San Francisco) Project Engineer, 1967 - 70 Woodward-Clyde-Sherard & Associates (Oakland) Staff Engineer, 1964 - 67 University of California at Berkeley Teaching Assistant, 1963 — 64 U.S. Army-Corps of Engineers (Fort Bragg, North Carolina) Engineering Officer ~ Company Commander, 1961 - 63wn oo co PROOF OF SERVICE Iam a citizen of the United States and resident of the State of California. I am employed in San Francisco, State of California, in the office of a member of the bar of this Court, at whose direction the service was made. I am over the age of eighteen years and not a party to the within action. On January 19, 2021, I served the following documents in the manner described below: DECLARATION OF DON HILLEBRANDT IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS AND CROSS DEFENDANTS YOUQIN CAO AND XIXRONG JIANG’S OPPOSITIONTO WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC. MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION M BY ELECTRONIC SERVICE: By electronically mailing a true and correct copy through Clark Hill LLP’s electronic mail system from lybrown@ClarkHill.com to the email addresses set forth below. On the following part(ies) in this action: Kevin P. Kennedy, Esq. E. Val Meneses, Esq. KENNEDY & SOUZA, APC 7964 Arjons Drive, Suite I San Diego, CA 92126 Brian Preston, Esq. LAW OFFICES OF BRIAN PRESTON 111 North Market Street, Suite 705 San Jose, CA 95113 Ryan P. Harley, Esq. Bradley Doucette, Esq. COLLINS MUIR + STEWART LLP 1999 Harrison Street, Suite 1700 Oakland, CA 94612 Telephone: (858) 267-4127 Facsimile: (858) 267-4128 Email: kkennedy@kennedysouza.com vmeneses@kennedysouza.com Attorneys for Defendants California Home and Kitchen Design Center, Inc., and California Home Builders & Design, Inc. Telephone: (408) 293-2700 Email: bp@brianprestonlaw.com Co-Counsel for California Home and Kitchen Design Center, Inc. and California Home Builders & Design, Inc. Telephone: (510) 844-5100 Facsimile: (510) 844-5101 Email: tharley@ccmslaw.com bdoucettte@ccmslaw.com Attorneys for WEC & Associates, Inc. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on January 19, 2021, at San Francisco, California. Lydia M. Brown 3 DECLARATION OF DON HILLEBRANDT IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS AND CROSS DEFENDANTS YOUQIN CAO AND XIXRONG JIANG’S OPPOSITIONTO WEC AND ASSOCIATES, INC. MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION ClarkHill\67652\383450\261320342.v1-1/19/21