{"id":883997,"date":"2015-10-07T11:55:59","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T17:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=883997"},"modified":"2015-10-07T11:55:59","modified_gmt":"2015-10-07T17:55:59","slug":"pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Laura Freid-Studlo | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP | September 15, 2015<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<em>Gongloff Contracting, L.L.C. v. L. Robert Kimball &amp; Associates, Architects &amp; Engineers, Inc<\/em><em>.<\/em>,<a class=\"logclick ct_cont\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pacourts.us\/assets\/opinions\/Superior\/out\/J-A13018-15o%20-%201022769965009462.pdf?cb=1\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0<\/a>2015 Pa. Super 149 (Pa. Super. Ct. July 8, 2015), the Superior Court of Pennsylvania reversed the trial court\u2019s decision and held that a claim for negligent misrepresentation could be based on faulty design documents under\u00a0<em>Section 552 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts<\/em>.\u00a0 The case was brought by a structural steel subcontractor (Gongloff) against the architect-engineer (Kimball) for a university convocation center.\u00a0 Kimball provided Gongloff and others with the design of the steel structure and repeatedly denied allegations of errors in the design.\u00a0 But Gongloff alleged that the \u201cnever-before-utilized\u201d design was in fact defective, and that Gongloff experienced various problems and significantly increased costs as a result of\u00a0changes made to\u00a0correct the design.<\/p>\n<p>Kimball filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings stating that Gongloff\u2019s claim was barred.\u00a0 Although negligence claims that result solely in economic loss are generally barred under Pennsylvania law by the economic loss doctrine, there is a narrow exception found in<em>Section 552\u00a0<\/em>for \u201cInformation Negligently Supplied for the Guidance of Others.\u201d\u00a0 In\u00a0<em>Bilt-Rite Contractors, Inc. v. The Architectural Studio<\/em>, 581 Pa. 454 (2005), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted\u00a0<em>Section 552<\/em>and held that it applied to cases where a design professional negligently supplies information that will foreseeably be used and relied upon by third parties, even where such parties have no contractual relationship with the design professional.<\/p>\n<p>Kimball argued that an actual or express misrepresentation was required to find liability under\u00a0<em>Section 552<\/em>\u00a0and claimed that Gongloff had failed to identify a particular document or communication that was false.\u00a0 The trial court agreed.\u00a0 But the appellate court\u00a0reversed, stating\u00a0that, under\u00a0<em>Bilt-Rite<\/em>, architects could be subject to liability for<em>Section 552<\/em>\u00a0negligent misrepresentation claims when there is an allegation that they negligently included faulty information in their design documents.\u00a0 The court further explained that an architect\u2019s design itself can be construed as a representation that the design, if followed, will result in a successful project.\u00a0 Gongloff\u2019s allegations of misrepresentations in Kimball\u2019s design were deemed sufficient to survive the motion, and the appellate court found the trial court\u2019s decision that Gongloff was required to identify an express representation to succeed on its\u00a0<em>Section 552\u00a0<\/em>claim \u201clegally erroneous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Laura Freid-Studlo | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP | September 15, 2015 In\u00a0Gongloff Contracting, L.L.C. v. L. Robert Kimball &amp; Associates, Architects &amp; Engineers, Inc.,\u00a02015 Pa. Super 149 (Pa. Super. Ct. July 8, 2015), the Superior Court of Pennsylvania reversed the trial court\u2019s decision and held that a claim for negligent misrepresentation could be based&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[24,284,269,128],"class_list":["post-883997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-defects","tag-construction-defect","tag-design-professionals","tag-economic-loss-doctrine","tag-faulty-design","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"trial court\u2019s decision and held that a claim for negligent misrepresentation could be based on faulty design\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"trial court\u2019s decision and held that a claim for negligent misrepresentation could be based on faulty design\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-07T17:55:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-07T17:55:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/\"},\"wordCount\":393,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"construction defect\",\"Design Professionals\",\"Economic Loss Doctrine\",\"faulty design\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Construction Defects\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/\",\"name\":\"Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-07T17:55:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"trial court\u2019s decision and held that a claim for negligent misrepresentation could be based on faulty design\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"trial court\u2019s decision and held that a claim for negligent misrepresentation could be based on faulty design","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"trial court\u2019s decision and held that a claim for negligent misrepresentation could be based on faulty design","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2015-10-07T17:55:59+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents","datePublished":"2015-10-07T17:55:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/"},"wordCount":393,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["construction defect","Design Professionals","Economic Loss Doctrine","faulty design"],"articleSection":["Construction Defects"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/","name":"Pennsylvania Appellate Court Confirms Exception to Economic Loss Doctrine for Claims Regarding Faulty Design Documents - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-07T17:55:59+00:00","description":"trial court\u2019s decision and held that a claim for negligent misrepresentation could be based on faulty design","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/pennsylvania-appellate-court-confirms-exception-to-economic-loss-doctrine-for-claims-regarding-faulty-design-documents\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3HY1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883998,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883997\/revisions\/883998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}