Contract law: the last resort of the tardy

Teaching contract remedies for breach of warranty, whether common law or UCC, often seems like a waste of time, since in many cirucmstances tort law provides superior remedies for defective products or services that cause injuries.  But, as we often explain to students, you need to know contract remedies if for not other reason that sometimes either you or (hopefully) your client will have blown the tort statute of limitations and will have to make out a claim under contract law.

That seems to e the situation in a recent professional malpractice case, Tower Investments Inc. v. Rawle & Henderson, where counts for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty against a law firm were barred by the statute of limitaitons, but breach  of contract claims were held to be timely.  The Legal Intelligencer, via Law.com, has a synopsis of the litigation here.

[Frank Snyder]