Summary: A legal firm and lawyer are helping a big company deal with a lawsuit from an employee who got hurt on the job. The lawyer is trying to show that the company wasn’t at fault for the accident. The economic loss rule is a legal doctrine that limits when someone can sue for damages in a contract dispute. It started in England in 1845 and has since been applied in American courts. The rule says that if parties have negotiated their remedies in a contract, they canât sue for more in a separate lawsuit. In Florida, the rule has been applied in different ways over the years. The Florida Supreme Court has stepped in to clarify when the rule can be used, narrowing it down to two specific situations. For almost 10 years, the economic loss rule in aviation cases was the norm. But now, the Supreme Court has changed that. They said that the rule only applies to product liability cases, not to cases where someone is suing for economic damages because of a contract. This means that now, people can sue for both breach of contract and for economic damages. Some justices are worried that this decision will make it harder to tell the difference between contract law and tort law. So, Florida’s courts will have a tough time figuring out how to handle these kinds of cases. The majority opinion in the Tiara Condominium case talked about the economic loss rule and how it shouldn’t be expanded. Justice Pariente agreed, but also said that we should use basic contract law principles to figure out when someone can sue for a tort (like negligence) instead of a contract issue. She also said that the majority opinion won’t lead to a bunch of new tort claims. But it’s not easy to tell the difference between when someone can sue for a tort or a contract issue, especially when it’s about economic loss. In Florida, the duty prong in negligence cases is becoming more flexible, allowing plaintiffs to make more claims. In the case of Curd v. Mosaic Fertilizer, licensed fishermen were allowed to sue a fertilizer plant for negligence, even though they didn’t own any damaged property. The Florida Supreme Court said the fishermen could still claim lost income because they had a special economic interest in the marine life. This means the filter between negligence and economic loss claims may not be as strong as it used to be. In Florida, the economic loss rule helps determine whether a lawsuit should be based on a breach of contract or a tort claim. This rule has been helpful in legal practice, but it’s being challenged. If the rule goes away, it will be harder for businesses and the public to understand their legal rights. Lawyers will have to work harder to argue their cases, and it may take longer for court cases to be resolved. Overall, it’s a big change in the legal world. This is a list of legal cases and articles discussing the relationship between tort law and contract law. It includes citations to specific court cases and scholarly articles. Some of the cases and articles discuss how tort claims and contract claims are different, while others explore how they can overlap or be related. Judge Alice Blackwell and Judge Lisa T. Munyon are circuit judges in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. They both work in the Complex Civil Litigation Division [Business Court]. They have been judges for a long time and have degrees in law.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/tort-and-contract-actions-strange-bedfellows-no-more-in-the-wake-of-tiara-condominium/
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