( October 20, 2023, 3:44 PM EDT) -- LOS ANGELES — Two owners of a construction company failed to plead sufficient facts in support of their affirmative defense that they entered into a novation and extinguished the contract they signed with two homeowners who sued the owners, the construction company and one of its affiliates for defectively renovating their home, a California judge found in granting the homeowners’ demurrer to the affirmative defense....