Under the prevailing rule in America, a plaintiff may not recover
for his economic loss resulting from bodily harm to another or from
physical damage to property in which he has no proprietary interest.'
Similarly, a plaintiff may not recover for economic loss caused by his
reliance on a negligent misrepresentation that was not made directly to
him or specifically on his behalf.
Thus, the insurer of A's life has no
action against one who negligently causes A's premature death;3
the
employer has no action for sums that he has had to pay because defendant
has negligently injured his employee;4
a ship's time charterer has no action for loss of the ship's use while it is laid up for repairs necessitated
by defendant's negligence;5
and a workman has no action for loss
of wages during a layoff
resulting from damage negligently caused to his
employer's plant.'
Turning to the field of misrepresentation, we find that
an accountant who prepares an audit for his client is not liable to one
who advances credit to the client in reliance on the audit and suffers loss
because the accountant negligently represents the client's financial position
to be far better than it is.
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