Rogers v. City of Toppenish

The defendants, City of Toppenish and Ronald Kramer, 1 appeal a judgment arising out of a claim of negligent representation. The principal issue is whether a municipal employee is liable, and the municipality vicariously liable, to a buyer of property for a negligent representation of the zoning classification of that property if the buyer justifiably relies upon the representation and suffers economic loss. We affirm.

The plaintiff, Joe Rogers, was a real estate broker in Toppenish. The defendant, Ronald Kramer, was the city building inspector, whose job included administration of the zoning…