Shirley R. Hulsey v. Build Art, LLC

── Shirley R. Hulsey v. Build Art, LLC ── Court: Supreme Court of Alabama Date: April 17, 2026 Author: Brady Mendheim Category: General Rel: April 17, 2026 Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter. SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026 _________________________ SC-2025-0564 _________________________ Shirley R. Hulsey v. Build Art, LLC Appeal from Tuscaloosa Circuit Court (CV-20-900281) MENDHEIM, Justice. Shirley R. Hulsey appeals from a summary judgment entered by the Tuscaloosa Circuit Court in favor of Build Art, LLC ("Build Art"), in SC-2025-0564 her tort action against Yellow Hammer Capital Management, LLC ("Yellow Hammer"), Build Art, and fictitiously named defendants. In December 2011, Hulsey and her husband purchased their residence in Tuscaloosa as joint tenants with the right of survivorship. In August 2017, Yellow Hammer purchased the lot adjacent to Hulsey's residence ("lot 22"). Lot 22 was at a higher elevation than and sloped toward Hulsey's lot. Also, Hulsey's lot had a retaining wall along much of its length, near or on the common boundary with lot 22. Between the retaining wall and Hulsey's residence was a side yard that was several feet wide. According to an affidavit from Marcus Minges, the managing member of Build Art, Yellow Hammer retained Build Art to construct a residence on lot 22. Build Art is owned by Yellow Hammer and Minges. In November 2017, Build Art applied for a building permit, which it received. In approximately January 2018, Build Art began construction on the residence with the assistance of a number of subcontractors. According to Minges, "[t]here was no need for excavating and/or grade work on Lot 22 because the lot was build ready when Build Art began work." Minges also averred that "Build Art's employees did not perform 2 SC-2025-0564 excavations or grading on the project. Build Art did not supply excavating equipment for use by any of its subcontractors. Build Art did not exercise control over the manner in which any excavation, grading, or landscaping of Lot 22 was performed." However, in Build Art's interrogatory answers that Hulsey filed in opposition to its motion for a summary judgment, it responded as follows: "7. Please identify the persons or entities who designed, reconfigured, constructed excavated, cut, filled and performed work to Lot 22 Neptune's Cove at NorthRiver Phase One. "ANSWER: [Build Art] object[s] to this Interrogatory as being vague. Without waiving this objection, Marcus Minges." Construction on the lot-22 residence was completed, and a certificate of occupancy was issued in August 2019. A preconstruction picture of lot 22 reflects a slight downward slope in the side yard from Hulsey's residence to near the bottom of the retaining wall. According to Hulsey's deposition testimony, she had never seen any water coming off of lot 22 onto her lot before construction began on lot 22. Hulsey stated that lot 22 originally was not flat but was "a turtle back … where the water would flow back to the front. … So when they went in there to make that land level enough to do a 3 SC-2025-0564 foundation, it took that drainage away." She stated that she first noticed water coming onto her lot from lot 22 in April 2018, "when the [silt fence]