Facts
On 31 July 1969, the three shareholders of the "Baulandgesellschaft Viola" commissioned engineer Edy Toscano to carry out engineering work for a new construction in St. Moritz. The apartment building "Chesa Violetta" was built in 1969/70 and occupied before Christmas 1970. From 1971 onwards, water infiltrations occurred, for which the engineering office was primarily held responsible. For the costs of the repair work carried out between 1976 and 1979, Edy Toscano AG, founded in 1975, is now held liable. The "Stockwerkeigentümergemeinschaft Chesa Violetta", to whom the Baulandgesellschaft Viola had transferred all rights under the engineering contract, filed an action on 8 September 1980 before the Cantonal Court of Grisons, the sole agreed instance, against Edy Toscano AG, for payment of CHF 232,211.45 plus 5% interest since 17 October 1974. The Cantonal Court initially limited the proceedings to the question of the statute of limitations of the claim asserted. By judgment of 18 January 1982, it dismissed the claim on the grounds of the statute of limitations.Considerations
The Cantonal Court rightly considered that a two-year statute of limitations had been agreed between the parties, also applicable to hidden defects. It found that the client, also assuming a two-year statute of limitations, had repeatedly interrupted the statute of limitations, for the last time by debt collection proceedings of 1 October 1976; at that time, the identity of the person responsible for the damage and the extent of the damage were known; however, as no other interruption measures had been taken until the filing of the action in May 1980, the claim was time-barred.
Although the plaintiffs argued that, according to doctrine and case law, the five-year statute of limitations provided for in Art. 371 para. 2 CO cannot be reduced, even for hidden defects, the Cantonal Court considered that this objection could only be upheld in favour of a non-professional…