Economic Loss
The Millers are attempting to use tort law to recover the cost of replacing a defective product sold to them for use in their business. This cost is called in law an “economic loss,” to distinguish it from an injury to the plaintiff’s person or property (property other than the product itself), the type of injury on which a product’s liability suit is usually founded. It would be better to call it a “commercial loss,” not only because personal injuries and especially property losses are economic losses, too—they destroy values which can be and are monetized.
—Judge Richard Posner, in his written opinion on the case Miller versus U.S. Steel Corp.1
Learning Objectives
- 1.Identify and describe economic losses for which businesses ...
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