Treetop at Stratton Condo. Ass'n v. Treetop Dev. Co. (2011)

Citation: Treetop at Stratton Condo. Ass'n v. Treetop Dev. Co. (2011)
Parent Document: Treetop at Stratton Condo. Ass'n v. Treetop Dev. Co. (2011)
Jurisdiction: Vermont (state)
Effective Date: 2011-02-04
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4489923/treetop-at-stratton-condo-assn-... ↗

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In keeping with these general policies for maintaining analytic clarity in the consideration
of appropriate remedies, the economic loss rule was developed by courts to prohibit tort recovery
for purely economic losses. Springfield Hydroelectric Co. v. Copp, 172 Vt. 311, 314 (2001).
The doctrine seeks to: (1) maintain the fundamental distinction between tort law and contract
law; (2) protect commercial parties' freedom to allocate economic risk by contract; and (3) to
encourage the party best situated to assess the risk of economic loss, (often the commercial
purchaser), to assume, allocate, or insure against that risk. 1325 North Van Buren, LLC v. T-3
Group, Ltd., 716 N.W.2d 822, 831 (Wis. 2006). Although the rule had its origins in products
liability, it is now well settled in Vermont that the economic loss rule also applies to commercial
disputes outside the confines of products liability. Springfield Hydroelectric, 172 Vt. at 315; see
also Heath v. Wyatt, 2006 VT 125, 181 Vt. 545 (economic loss rule applied in home construction
defect context).

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