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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¶32 Under the Washington product liability act (WPLA), chapter 7.72 RCW, a product manufacturer has a tort duty *396to avoid product designs and construction that are unreasonably dangerous. RCW 7.72.030. But the WPLA’s definition of “ ‘[h]arm’ ” excludes “direct or consequential economic loss,” RCW 7.72.010(6), leaving the law of sales contracts as the sole source of a plaintiff’s remedy for economic loss. To differentiate a harm that is an “economic loss” from a harm for which damages are recoverable in tort, the risk-of-harm test determines whether the harm can reasonably be traced back to the tort duty. Touchet Valley Grain Growers, Inc. v. Opp & Seibold Gen. Constr., Inc., 119 Wn.2d 334, 351, 831 P.2d 724 (1992); Wash. Water Power Co. v. Graybar Elec. Co., 112 Wn.2d 847, 866, 774 P.2d 1199, 779 P.2d 697 (1989). When a product defect results in a personal injury or damage to other property, the cause can plainly be a breach of the tort duty. When a product defect results in injury only to the product itself, however, the risk of harm must be carefully analyzed. The WPLA tort duties are implicated if a hazardous product exposes a person or property to an unreasonable risk of harm such that the safety interests of the WPLA are implicated. Touchet Valley, 119 Wn.2d at 353-54. For example, the sudden collapse of a grain storage building creates “a real, nonspeculative threat to persons and property” and is therefore not a mere economic loss. Id. at 353. Thus, the availability of a tort remedy depends on the nature of the risk that created the harm.

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