Law Commons^™

Nursing Home Contracts: Is It Time For Bad Faith To Come Out Of Retirement?, Charles A. Lattanzi

Journal of Law and Health

For certain types of contracts, the remedy for the breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing has been found to lie in tort. Until the Supreme Court's ruling in Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux, courts were rapidly extending the application of the tort of bad faith breach of contract into areas beyond the traditionally accepted realm of insurance contracts. Most significant for the purposes of this note was the expansion into the area of health care services, specifically health maintenance organizations. Perhaps because of the chilling effect Pilot Life has had upon this form of …

Recovery For Pure Economic Loss In Tort: Another Look At Robins Dry Dock V. Flint, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

In Robins Dry Dock and Repair Co. v. Flint, the Supreme Court laid down the general proposition that claims for pure economic loss are not recoverable in tort. Although courts have sometimes ignored or distinguished Robins, its holding is still a central feature of tort law. In a recent en bane decision regarding claims by those injured by a chemical spill in the Mississippi River, the Fifth Circuit engaged in an extensive debate over the continued vitality of Robins and concluded (despite five dissenters) that it remained good law.

The Robins rule is overbroad, lumping together a number of …