Opinion ID: 1298511
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Coexistent causes of action

Text: The court of appeals required Drew's complaint to yield only a claim for economic loss. Memo. decision at 8. Drew claims this is incorrect. The products liability statute, A.R.S. § 12-681, applies only to claims seeking recovery for property damage and personal injury or death  essentially tort damages. Gates, 147 Ariz. at 24, 708 P.2d at 115. It is irrelevant under which theory of liability ( e.g., strict liability, breach of warranty, negligence, etc.) the plaintiff seeks those damages. Id.; see also Kellogg v. Willy's Motors, Inc., 140 Ariz. 67, 70, 680 P.2d 203, 206 (Ct.App. 1984). However, the statute does not apply to claims for commercial or economic losses. Gates, 147 Ariz. at 24, 708 P.2d at 115. Thus, to the extent Drew seeks compensation for economic damages to his business, the products liability statute, by its own terms, cannot control and its two-year statute of limitations is inapplicable. Our reading of the products liability statute reveals no indication that a complaint arguably seeking both personal injury or property damages as well as purely economic or commercial damages is entirely time barred by A.R.S. § 12-542. Read that way, the statute would subsume all claims for relief against sellers or manufacturers within the short two-year tort limitations period, and impliedly repeal all other statutes of limitations governing other claims for relief. The products liability statute does not state such an all or nothing approach; it only operates on that aspect of any complaint seeking damages to property or person and otherwise meeting the requirements found in § 12-681(3). We are cited to no authority that supports the proposition that by enacting the products liability statute the legislature intended to repeal or diminish the rights or remedies provided by the UCC. Absent any contrary expression, we assume the legislature intended to leave intact a uniform code governing commerce. See Green v. Bock Laundry Machine Co., ___ U.S. ___, ___, 109 S.Ct. 1981, 1984, 104 L.Ed.2d 557 (1989) (Scalia, J., concurring) (in the absence of contrary indications, courts must assume the legislature intends to enact new statutes compatible with existing statutes). Thus, we do not imply such fundamental, sub silentio changes in statutory rights from the language of later statutes targeted at other fields and other problems. Because Drew does not seek such damages, however, we need not resolve this apparent conflict between the two statutes of limitations. Drew pleads a wrong recognized by the UCC (breach of express and implied warranty, see A.R.S. § 47-2313 through § 47-2315) and seeks economic damages provided by the UCC for that wrong ( see A.R.S. §§ 47-2714 and 47-2715), he, therefore, seeks relief under the UCC and that portion of his claim is governed by the statute of limitations found in the UCC. [6] Seeking two types of relief, contract and tort, in the same complaint is proper. See Woodward v. Chirco Construction, 141 Ariz. 514, 516, 687 P.2d 1269, 1271 (1984). A single complaint may be based exclusively on tort or contract law principles, or it may rest on some combination of the two. Salt River Project v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 143 Ariz. 368, 380, 694 P.2d 198, 210 (1984). Each claim [for relief] will stand or fall on its own [and] a distinct statute of limitations applies to each. Woodward, 141 Ariz. at 516, 687 P.2d at 1271 (emphasis added). Disclaiming any attempt to recover the value of any piglet that died, Drew argues that his claim for the lost profits of his business is a UCC claim. We agree. [7] Accordingly, because the products liability limitations period does not apply to his claim for lost profits, that aspect of his complaint is not time barred. Drew may seek relief for whatever damages are cognizable under the UCC, but he may not be granted relief for any claim for tort damage, whether it be personal injury or property damage. Therefore, we hold that A.R.S. § 12-681, with its adopted two-year limitations period, only applies to those aspects of a complaint meeting the requirements of § 12-681. The statute does not require dismissal of an entire complaint on limitations grounds simply because the complaint also seeks recovery for property damage or personal injury. For economic loss, such as damage to his business, the plaintiff retains the right to the economic remedies provided by the UCC. Anything in Gates to the contrary is disapproved.