Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 170 Wash. 2d 380 (2010)

Citation: Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 170 Wash. 2d 380 (2010)
Parent Document: Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 170 Wash. 2d 380 (2010)
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Effective Date: 2010-11-04
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4909141/eastwood-v-horse-harbor-foundation-inc/ ↗

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Fairhurst, J.
¶1 Since the 1800s, lessors of real property in Washington have been able to recover damages for the tort of waste. In this case, however, the Court of Appeals interpreted our jurisprudence on the economic loss rule and concluded that lessor Linda Eastwood was limited to contractual remedies for the damage done to her horse farm by lessee Horse Harbor Foundation Inc. See Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Found., Inc., noted at 144 Wn. App. 1009, 2008 WL 1801332, 2008 Wash. App. LEXIS 916. The Court of Appeals also held that Horse Harbor’s employee and board directors could not be individually liable for breach of contract. We reverse. The availability of a tort remedy depends on the existence of a tort duty arising independently of a contract’s privately negotiated terms, not on whether an injury can be labeled an economic loss. Because the duty to not cause waste is a tort duty independent from a lease’s covenants, Eastwood had a cause of action for waste, and the trial court properly concluded she may recover tort damages from Horse Harbor’s employee and two of its board directors. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

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