The owner of a building is answerable for the damage occasioned by its ruin, when this is caused by neglect to repair it, or when it is the result of a vice or defect in its original* construction.  However, he is answerable for damages only upon a showing that he knew or, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known of the vice or defect which caused the damage, that the damage could have been prevented by the exercise of reasonable care, and that he failed to exercise such reasonable care.  Nothing in this Article shall preclude the court from the application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur in an appropriate case.

Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 1, §1, eff. April 16, 1996.

*”Original” has no counterpart in French text.