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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¶ 12 In reaching the opposite conclusion, the Court of Appeals picked several statements from Alejandre to support its analysis. Alejandre defined an economic loss as an injury in a contractual relationship "where the parties could or should have allocated the risk of loss, or had the opportunity to do so." 159 Wash.2d at 687, 153 P.3d 864. The lease between Eastwood and Horse Harbor actually allocated the risk of the property falling into disrepair, as the lease assigned most responsibilities for maintenance to Horse Harbor. The Court of Appeals thought the breach of this contractual arrangement was therefore an economic loss under Alejandre. The court also noted the statements from Alejandre that "the purpose of the economic loss rule is to bar recovery for alleged breach of tort duties where a contractual relationship exists and the losses are economic losses," and "[i]f the economic loss rule applies, the party will be held to contract remedies, regardless of how the plaintiff characterizes the claims." Id. at 683, 153 P.3d 864. Seeing both a contractual relationship and an economic loss, the Court of Appeals believed that Alejandre therefore compelled a holding that Eastwood's only remedy was a recovery for breach of lease. Eastwood, 2008 WL 1801332, at *2. The Court of Appeals' broad reading of this court's jurisprudence on the economic loss rule, while perhaps understandable, is not correct.

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