Harris v. Suniga

Plaintiffs are the trustees of a trust that owns an apartment building that defendants built. The trust, however, is not the first owner and has no contractual relationship with defendants. When plaintiffs discovered defects in the construction of the apartment building, they initiated this action against defendants for negligent construction. Defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that plaintiffs’ negligence claim is barred by the “economic loss” doctrine; that is, because the damage to the apartment building is in the nature of purely economic loss, a claim for negligence will not…