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/ ↗

Full Text

1,200 chars

¶45 Using similar reasoning, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington held that the economic loss rule did not apply to bar a statutory trade secret misappropriation claim under RCW 19.108.010-.100. Veritas Operating Corp. v. Microsoft Corp., No. C06-0703-JCC, 2008 WL 474248, at *4, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8166, at *7-11 (W.D. Wa. Feb. 4, 2008) (unpublished). In a leading opinion on this point, the Florida State Supreme Court held in Comptech International, Inc. v. Milam Commerce Park, Ltd., 753 So. 2d 1219 (Fla. 1999) that the economic loss rule does not bar statutory causes of action. The Florida court observed that “[i]t is undisputed that the Legislature has the authority to enact laws creating causes of action. If the court [ ] limit [s] or abrogate [s] such legislative enactments through judicial policies, separation of powers issues are created, and that tension must be resolved in favor of the Legislature’s right to act in this area.” Id. at 1222. The court concluded that the economic loss rule did not bar statutory claims for injury resulting from *404violations of the building code during construction under Florida Statutes Annotated § 553.84.

Other Sections in This Document (97)

Full Text