The Superior Court of Massachusetts (Norfolk County) granted the Firm’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claims against our client, a leading manufacturer of specialty chemical products for the concrete and masonry construction industry. Plaintiff’s claims concerned the construction of an three-rink ice-skating training facility and performance center for The Skating Club of Boston. The skating rinks were designed to be constructed on large concrete slabs, which were prepared using an admixture manufactured by the Firm’s client. After the slabs were poured, irregularities appeared on the surface of one of the slabs, which the general contractor attributed, in part, to defects in the admixture. The general contractor brought suit seeking damages of more than $700,000, asserting claims for negligence and violation of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 93A.
The Firm moved to dismiss the contractor’s claims, primarily arguing that they are barred by the economic loss doctrine, which prohibits recovery in tort absent personal injury or injury to property other than to the allegedly defective product. We argued that because our client’s product had been incorporated as a component part of a finished product (the slabs and the skating rink), the economic loss doctrine barred the claims. Opposing our motion, plaintiff claimed that the concrete slabs were “other property” to which the economic loss doctrine did not apply. The court adopted our arguments and dismissed with prejudice both claims against our client.