(CN) - Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson can take the contractor of their Sun Valley, Idaho, home to court to arbitrate claims of poor workmanship, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled.
The decision caps a nine-year battle between the couple and Storey Construction, which built the home in 2000.
The Oscar-winning actor and his wife say they asked for arbitration after spotting construction defects in 2002 that weren't immediately obvious. But a lower court agreed with Storey Construction in 2007 that any additional claims were barred since they had already gone to arbitration once before.
The Idaho Supreme Court reversed that ruling, finding that nothing in the contract prohibited additional arbitration over newly discovered defects.
"There can be more than one construction defect in a construction project," the court ruled. "Under the parties' contract, there can also be more than one claim 'arising out of or related to the parties' construction contract."
The Idaho Supreme Court ordered the parties to proceed with arbitration, and awarded costs on appeal to the Hollywood couple.
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