{"id":900533,"date":"2022-11-01T14:23:07","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T20:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=900533"},"modified":"2022-11-01T14:23:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T20:23:11","slug":"independent-tort-doctrine-and-its-importance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/independent-tort-doctrine-and-its-importance\/","title":{"rendered":"The Independent Tort Doctrine (and its Importance)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>David Adelstein | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridaconstructionlegalupdates.com\/the-independent-tort-doctrine-and-its-importance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Florida Construction Legal Updates<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A non-construction case raises an important legal principle.\u00a0 Here it is because it applies to construction disputes. \u00a0It actually applies to many business-type disputes. \u00a0It is based on what is widely referred to as the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/privette-doctrine-riveting-explanation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">independent tort doctrine<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Florida law does not allow a party damaged by a breach of contract to recover exactly the same contract damages via a tort claim. \u201cIt is a fundamental, long-standing common law principle that a plaintiff may not recover in tort for a contract dispute unless the tort is independent of any breach of contract.&nbsp; A plaintiff bringing both a breach of contract and a tort claim must allege, in addition to the breach of contract, \u201csome other conduct amounting to an independent tort.\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Bedoyan v. Samra<\/em>, 47 Fla.L.Weekly D1955a (Fla. 3d 2022) (internal citations omitted).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason this principle\u2013the independent tort doctrine\u2013is important is because it has become common for parties to assert many causes of action against another party in the same lawsuit.&nbsp; Oftentimes, they deal with the SAME damages and underlying conduct.&nbsp; Sometimes, it is the \u201cthrow everything but the kitchen sink\u201d approach. &nbsp;Thus, a party may assert a contract claim (or seek contractual damages) in conjunction with numerous tort claims (<em>e.g<\/em>., negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, etc.).&nbsp; Yet, when push comes to shove, the damages sought are no different than the contractual damages,<em>&nbsp;i.e<\/em>., it is all the same damages based on the same conduct.&nbsp; The damages do not derive from an independent tort (<em>e.g<\/em>, separate conduct) unrelated to a contractual breach, or contractual damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This case of\u00a0<em>Bedoyan<\/em>\u00a0is an example. Here, there was a partnership dispute that was tried. The plaintiff claimed the defendant breached their oral partnership agreement and breached fiduciary duties. The trial court granted defendant\u2019s motion for a directed verdict on plaintiff\u2019s breach of fiduciary duty claim.\u00a0<strong>The plaintiff\u2019s breach of fiduciary duty claim \u201cwas not independent from his allegation of breach of contract; the same conduct gave rise to both. As such, there are no damages for breach of fiduciary duty separate and apart from the breach of the contract, and the trial court correctly directed a verdict against [plaintiff] on this issue.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<em>Bedoyan, supra<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Adelstein | Florida Construction Legal Updates A non-construction case raises an important legal principle.\u00a0 Here it is because it applies to construction disputes. \u00a0It actually applies to many business-type disputes. \u00a0It is based on what is widely referred to as the\u00a0independent tort doctrine: Florida law does not allow a party damaged by a breach&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/independent-tort-doctrine-and-its-importance\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Independent Tort Doctrine (and its Importance)<\/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":[14],"tags":[9895,204,11786],"class_list":["post-900533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-disputes","tag-independent-tort-doctrine","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>The Independent Tort Doctrine (and its Importance) - Advise &amp; 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