lan/stv, a Joint Venture of Lockwood, Andrews & Newman, Inc. and Stv Incorporated v. Martin K. Eby Construction Company, Inc.

In actions for unintentional torts, the common law has long restricted recovery of purely economic damages unaccompanied by injury to the plaintiff or his property 1 — a doctrine we have referred to as the economic loss rule. 2 The rule serves to provide a more definite limitation on liability than foreseeability can and reflects a preference for allocating some economic risks by contract rather than by law. 3 But the rule is not generally appliea- ble in every situation; it allows recovery of economic damages in tort, or not, according to its underlying principles. 4 The issue in this case…