Oregon Supreme Court affirms negligence claim against builder for property damage

The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday held that a builder may be liable to a subsequent purchaser for repair costs resulting from negligent construction.  The defendant in Harris v. Suniga unsuccessfully urged the court to bar damages under the 'economic loss' doctrine, which provides that a defendant is ordinarily not liable for negligently causing a stranger's purely economic loss without injuring his person or property.

Defendants argued that plaintiffs' losses amounted to nothing more than a decrease in the value of their investment, and did not constitute injury to property.  The court, affirming the Court of Appeals, rejected that characterization: "plaintiffs here seek recovery for physical damage to their real property, and this court's cases generally permit a property owner to recover in negligence for damages of that kind."

See our coverage from December 2006 of the economic loss doctrine and the Court of Appeals opinion in Harris v. Suniga.