Economic Loss, Lost

In Kinder Morgan Treating LP v. North Park Advantage Walden MRU, LLC, the Dallas Court of Appeals reversed and rendered in part a $5,645,810 negligent-misrepresentation judgment against a natural-gas treater in favor of a pipeline-project investor, holding that the plaintiff’s tort recovery was foreclosed by the economic loss rule.

Drawing on Wal-Mart Stores v. Xerox State & Local Solutions, No. 05-18-01421-CV, 2024 WL 5087116 (Tex. App.—Dallas Dec. 12, 2024, no pet.), the Court reasoned that “where a contract might readily have been used to allocate the risk of a loss,” courts prefer to leave the parties to their contractual remedies rather than add tort duties in tort. Because the parties here had the ability — and, on the record established about their dealings, the opportunity — to allocate that risk by contract, negligent misrepresentation was not an available claim. No. 05-24-01447-CV (July 1, 2026).