Torts: Economic Harm

The Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Liability of Economic Harm is part of ALI’s ongoing revision of the Restatement Second of Torts. Portions of the Restatement Second have been superseded by the Restatement Third of Torts: Products Liability, Apportionment of Liability, and Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm.

“Recovery and tort for economic loss has been a growth area in American law over the last few decades. There’s been a lot of judicial commentary and a lot of scholarly commentary on when it ought to be possible to recover in tort for a pure economic loss. Our goal in this Restatement has been to capture the best insights of the commentary while staying true to where the case law has been going.” – Ward Farnsworth, Project Reporter

This Restatement covers unintentional infliction of economic loss, including professional negligence, negligent misrepresentation, negligent performance of services, and public nuisance. It also addresses fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, interference with contract, unjustifiable litigation, and civil conspiracy.

The Economic Loss Rule

| June 20, 2017 | Torts: Economic Harm

The emergence and evolution of the economic loss rule is the most important development of the past generation in the American common law of torts. It has also been the most confusing development. Courts have struggled to define the rule and have assigned it different...