Arizona Supreme Court holds that the implied warranty in new home sales cannot be disclaimed

In an important decision, the Arizona Supreme Court held that buyers of new homes have a nonwaivable right to a warranty of fitness. Zambrano v. M & RC II, LLC, 254 Ariz. 53, 517 P.3d 1168 (Ariz. 2022). The court explained that allowing waivability would mean the end of the implied warranty since all builders would include such a waiver in their agreements and buyers would neither know to contest it nor have the power to get the buyer to change the contract terms. The dissent argued that “freedom of contract” should prevail and that it is important to give the parties the benefit of the bargain they made, whatever that is.