Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 241 P.3d 1256 (2010)

Citation: Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 241 P.3d 1256 (2010)
Parent Document: Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 241 P.3d 1256 (2010)
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Effective Date: 2010-11-04
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2372386/eastwood-v-horse-harbor-foundation-inc/ ↗

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¶ 11 A lease is a contract as well as a conveyance of a property interest, and the tort law duty to not cause waste is usually supplemented by a lease covenant allocating responsibility for repairs between the lessor and the lessee. See 17 William B. Stoebuck & John W. Weaver, Washington Practice: Real Estate: Property Law § 6.39, at 367 (2d ed. 2004) ("A well drafted lease will make provision for repairs, creating a contractual duty for either the landlord or tenant to make repairs or apportioning repair duties between the parties."). When a lessee breaches such lease provisions and consequently harms the property, the issue is whether the lessor's injury is only an economic loss remediable under the law of contracts or whether it is also the tort of "waste" within the meaning of RCW 64.12.020. Stated another way, can a breach of lease simultaneously be a breach of a tort duty that arises independently of the lease's terms? We hold it can because an independent tort *1261 duty can overlap with a contractual obligation. 1. The "economic loss rule"

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