Product Liability – Negligence

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Duncan Place Owners Association, et al. v. Danze, Inc., et al.

Case No.: 17-3474

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and BAUER and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Product Liability – Negligence

In 2009 faucets manufactured by Illinois-based Danze, Inc., were installed in all 63 units of a new condominium building in Seattle, Washington. In the years that followed, some of the faucets failed, causing damage to the building and replacement costs. The condominium association, Duncan Place Owners Association, filed a proposed class-action suit against Danze raising multiple claims for relief, including breach of express warranty, unjust enrichment, negligence, and strict product liability. The district judge dismissed all but one of the claims and later entered summary judgment on the sole remaining claim.

Duncan Place appeals, seeking reinstatement of the claims that were dismissed on the pleadings. We affirm, with one narrow exception. The Washington Product Liability Act (“WPLA” or “the Act”) subsumes all common-law product liability claims, so we construe Duncan Place’s negligence and strict-liability claims as one cause of action under the Act. In a suit for damages caused by a defective product, Washington’s “independent duty doctrine” (formerly known as the “economic loss doctrine”) generally bars recovery in tort for direct and consequential economic losses stemming from the product’s failure—that is, damages associated with the “injury” to the product itself. But the doctrine does not bar recovery for damage to other property caused by the defective product. See Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Found., Inc., 241 P.3d 1256, 1265 (Wash. 2010) (en banc). Duncan Place alleges in general terms that the defective faucets caused damage to other condominium property. To that limited extent, the WPLA claim is not blocked by the independent duty doctrine and should have been allowed to proceed.

Duncan Place’s arguments for reinstatement of its warranty and unjust-enrichment claims are new on appeal. Arguments not raised in the district court are waived, so we affirm the dismissal of the warranty and unjust-enrichment claims.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.