If you must know more about “the economic loss rule”, … it is rule is based on the idea that lawsuits between people who have no contract with each other should have some limits. It prohibits recovery of “economic damages” where negligence (rather than breach of an agreed upon contract) is alleged to have caused damage. The rule applies to the makers of products and to the builders of real estate.  Mass just decided the rule does not block condominium association negligence suits against developers.

Different legal theories support contract claims (which parties can limit by agreement) and tort claims which they cannot. Tort or negligence cases, focus not on broken promises but on breach of duty. The economic loss rule is supposed to cabin damages in negligence cases where the only thing damaged was the product. The economic loss rule is meant to prevent the undermining of agreements limiting contract warranties by concepts of general duty.

“Purely economic” losses are not recoverable in tort cases in the absence of property damage, beyond damage to the product (or the real estate) itself. The purpose of the rule is to block unrestrained damage findings from people seeking hard to prove damages like lost profits or loss of good will.