Minnesota Session Laws - 2000, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 358-S.F.No. 1126 
                  An act relating to civil actions; clarifying the 
                  economic loss doctrine; providing for a comprehensive 
                  statute governing economic loss; proposing coding for 
                  new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 604. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  [604.101] [ECONOMIC LOSS DOCTRINE.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] (a) The definitions in this 
        subdivision apply to this section.  
           (b) "Buyer" means a person who buys or leases or contracts 
        to buy or lease the goods that are alleged to be defective or 
        the subject of a misrepresentation.  
           (c) "Goods" means tangible personal property, regardless of 
        whether that property is incorporated into or becomes a 
        component of some different property.  
           (d) "Period of restoration" means the time a reasonable 
        person would find reasonably necessary to repair, replace, 
        rebuild, or restore other tangible property and real property 
        harmed by the defect in the goods to a quality level reasonably 
        equivalent to the quality level that existed before the defect 
        caused the harm, but excluding in all circumstances:  
           (1) time necessary to repair, replace, rebuild, or restore 
        the goods themselves; 
           (2) delays or other impediments resulting from a difficulty 
        in obtaining financing; and 
           (3) delays or other impediments resulting from zoning or 
        environmental requirements imposed by law that did not apply to 
        the use of the harmed property immediately before the harm 
        occurred.  
           (e) "Product defect tort claim" means a common law tort 
        claim for damages caused by a defect in the goods but does not 
        include statutory claims.  A defect in the goods includes a 
        failure to adequately instruct or warn. 
           (f) "Seller" means a person who sells or leases or 
        contracts to sell or lease the goods that are alleged to be 
        defective or the subject of a misrepresentation.  
           (g) If a good is a component of a manufactured good, harm 
        caused by the component good to the manufactured good is not 
        harm to tangible personal property other than the component good.
           Subd. 2.  [SCOPE.] This section does not apply to claims 
        for injury to the person.  This section applies to any claim by 
        a buyer against a seller for harm caused by a defect in the 
        goods sold or leased, or for a misrepresentation relating to the 
        goods sold or leased: 
           (1) regardless of whether the seller and the buyer were in 
        privity regarding the sale or lease of the goods; and 
           (2) regardless of whether article 2 or article 2A of the 
        Uniform Commercial Code under chapter 336 governed the sale or 
        lease that caused the seller to be a seller and buyer to be a 
        buyer. 
           Subd. 3.  [LIMITS ON PRODUCT DEFECT TORT CLAIMS.] A buyer 
        may not bring a product defect tort claim against a seller for 
        compensatory damages unless a defect in the goods sold or leased 
        caused harm to the buyer's tangible personal property other than 
        the goods or to the buyer's real property.  In any claim brought 
        under this subdivision, the buyer may recover only for:  
           (1) loss of, damage to, or diminution in value of the other 
        tangible personal property or real property, including, where 
        appropriate, reasonable costs of repair, replacement, 
        rebuilding, and restoration; 
           (2) business interruption losses, excluding loss of good 
        will and harm to business reputation, that actually occur during 
        the period of restoration; and 
           (3) additional family, personal, or household expenses that 
        are actually incurred during the period of restoration.  
           Subd. 4.  [LIMITS ON COMMON LAW MISREPRESENTATION 
        CLAIMS.] A buyer may not bring a common law misrepresentation 
        claim against a seller relating to the goods sold or leased 
        unless the misrepresentation was made intentionally or 
        recklessly.  
           Subd. 5.  [RELATION TO COMMON LAW.] The economic loss 
        doctrine applies to claims only as stated in this section.  This 
        section does not alter the elements of a product defect tort 
        claim or a common law claim for misrepresentation.  
           Subd. 6.  [APPLICATION; EFFECT ON EXISTING STATUTE.] This 
        section governs claims by a buyer against a seller if the sale 
        or lease that caused the seller to be a seller and the sale or 
        lease that caused the buyer to be a buyer both occurred on or 
        after August 1, 2000.  Section 604.10 does not apply to a claim 
        governed by this section.  
           Sec. 2.  [INSTRUCTION TO REVISOR.] 
           The revisor of statutes shall change the statutory 
        reference in the footnote to Minnesota Statutes, section 
        336.2-721, to include section 604.101 as well as section 604.10. 
           Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           This act is effective August 1, 2000. 
           Presented to the governor April 7, 2000 
           Signed by the governor April 11, 2000, 10:30 a.m.