Aikens v. Baltimore and Ohio R. Co.
| Decision Date | 29 November 1985 |
| Parties | Albert J. AIKENS, Richard J. Aikens, Clifford M. Aikens, Michael J. Alloe, Helen Arble, Harold E. Bailey, Eugene Baker, Martha Kay Baker, Donna J. Banyas, Fred Barton, Michael D. Bateman, Dennis Beldin, George Benec, John D. Benec, Reginald Bethune, John Bey, Harold John Blakely, Benjamin Brown, Jr., James P. Bucci, Ronald J. Bure, Alice Burgett, Sigmonda Catalone, Eiljah Chapman, Chea Chhim, Richard Chop, Edward D. Collington, Glenn Conneli, Juanita E. Connor, Annabelle Cooper, Thelma A. Cox, David Creighton, Jesse Cummings, Robert E. Cummings, Robert Earl Cummings, Jr., Eddie Cunningham, Cheryl Delucia, Samuel L. Demark, Claudino T. Devito, Maureen Disiena, Dennis T. Donaldson, William R. Dow, Lois F. Eckenroad, Ronald Farren, Michael G. Felton, Jr., Don Fetsick, Richard T. Fetsick, Thomas L. Fetsick, James R. Fields, Jean M. Fields, John R. Finnigan, Ozzie W. Fletcher, Patricia Focht, Robert L. Gay, Ellen Goldsmith, Bryan K. Goodrow, James D. Gregory, Sandra Gregory, Dale Griffith, James Grovanz, David Hallawell, John Harden, Elyah Harrier, Mackina Harrier, Harry D. Hart, Charles J. Hartman, Jr., Paul E. Haviland, Jack A. Helsel, Kiem Hoang, Stephen L. Irwin, Sylvia V. Ives, James L. Jackson, Ada Johnson, Doris A. Johnson, Maxine D. Johnson, Edna S. Jordan, Paul J. Kamats, Marcel L. Kanewski, David Allen Keller, Delores Keslar, Bernard C. Kinner, Susan Kline, Darryl Kountz, Nicholas Krul, Leo J. Kurp, Frank Lamanna, Earl E. Lanious, AlexLapinski, Alexander Lapinski, Jr., Joyce A. Lee, Harry M. Lindsey, Jr., Sara L. Lucas, William Lynch, Lawrence C. Macklin, Harry E. Mansfield, Wayne L. Mapp, Frederick C. Marshall, Victoria L. Marshall, Joseph N. Martis, Stephen A. Maszle, Eugene E. McAdams, Carl A. McCourt, Vivian McFall, Raymond McFeaters, Martha Miller, Ethel Milton, James Milton, Gerald W. Moate, Joyce Moore, Linda K. Moore, Roselie Moore, May Moua, Patrick J. Mullen, Alfred M. Neenan, Phat Nguyen, Roger Nichols, Thomas M. Nowakowski, Thomas E. Oliver, Terry J |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Michele M. Lally, Pittsburgh, for appellants.
Theresa Homisak, Pittsburgh, for appellees.
Before OLSZEWSKI, POPOVICH and MONTGOMERY, JJ.
This appeal follows an order by the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Civil Division, which granted judgment on the pleadings to the appellees and dismissed appellants' complaint. Appellants, employees of the Motor Coils Manufacturing Company, Inc., brought suit seeking damages for lost wages, alleging that appellees' negligence caused a train derailment which damaged the Motor Coils plant. As a result of the derailment, production at the plant was curtailed and appellants suffered loss of work and wages. Appellants did not suffer personal injury or property damage from the derailment.
On appeal, the appellants raise two issues. First, appellants argue that Pennsylvania should recognize a cause of action to compensate a party suffering purely economic loss, absent any direct physical injury or property damage, as a result of the negligence of another party. We find this argument to be without merit.
The general rule is stated in the Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 766C:
Negligent Interference with Contract or Prospective Contractual Relation. One is not liable to another for pecuniary harm not deriving from physical harm to the other, if that harm results from the actor's negligently
(a) causing a third person not to perform a contract with the other, or
(b) interfering with the other's performance of his contract or making the performance more expensive or burdensome, or
(c) interfering with the other's acquiring a contractual relation with a third person.
Thus, recovery for purely economic loss occasioned by tortious interference with contract or economic advantage is not available under a negligence theory. Local Joint Executive Board of Las Vegas v. Stern, 98 Nev. 409, 651 P.2d 637 (1982). A cause of action exists in this situation only if the tortious interference was intentional or involved parties in a special relationship to one another. See Petition of S.C. Loveland, Inc., 170 F.Supp. 786 (E.D.Pa.1959); W. Prosser, Handbook of the Law of Torts Sec. 130 (4th Ed.1971).
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