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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¶25 The economic loss rule in Washington was heavily influenced by the United States Supreme Court opinion in East River Steamship Corp. v. Transamerica Delaval Inc., 476 U.S. 858, 106 S. Ct. 2295, 90 L. Ed. 2d 865 (1986), and that case also rests on the proposition that an injury is remediable in tort if it traces back to the breach of a tort duty arising independently of the terms of the contract. In East River, the plaintiff ship-chartering companies alleged that the defendant shipbuilder sold them oil supertankers with defective turbines, and they sought to recover under a strict liability theory of tort, with damages for the cost of repairs as well as the revenues lost when the tankers were not working. Id. at 861. The defendant argued that the plaintiffs were limited to their contract damages. Under products liability, the manufacturer is strictly liable “where a product ‘reasonably certain to place life and limb in peril,’ distributed without reinspection, causes bodily injury.” Id. at 866 (quoting MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co., 217 N.Y. 382, 389, 111 N.E. 1050 (1916)). The Court noted a manufacturer is liable in tort for product defects “because ‘public policy demands that responsibility be fixed wherever it will most effectively reduce the hazards to life and health *393inherent in defective products that reach the market.’ ” Id. (quoting Escola v. Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Fresno, 24 Cal. 2d 453, 462, 150 P.2d 436 (1944) (Traynor, J., concurring)). “For similar reasons of safety, the manufacturer’s duty of care was broadened to include protection against property damage.” Id. at 867. The question arose “whether a commercial product injuring itself is the kind of harm against which public policy requires manufacturers to protect, independent of any contractual obligation.” Id. (emphasis added).

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