“No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:” Clare Boothe Luce.

A civil engineer, the cross-defendant herein, was hired to prepare plans to build a pier. His plans called for a very particular kind of concrete mixture, which concrete was supplied by defendant/cross-complainant. After defendant/cross-complainant prepared the concrete, cross-defendant gratuitously reviewed the recipe used and approved the prepared concrete. On the day of the concrete pour, defendant/cross-complainant encountered mechanical difficulty with its dispensing equipment and had to perform manually. When tested after the pour, the concrete did not meet specifications, and the pier had to be replaced. After defendant was sued, it cross-complained against the civil engineer for implied equitable indemnity and contribution, alleging the civil engineer failed to use reasonable care in his review of the concrete mixture. The trial court sustained the civil engineer’s demurrer without leave to amend. Citing the economic loss rule, and noting that defendant/cross-complainant may not recast its breach of contract/breach of warranty action into a tort action, the appellate court affirmed. (State Ready Mix, Inc. v. Moffatt & Nichol (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 5; January 8, 2015) 232 Cal.App.4th 1227, [181 Cal.Rptr.3d 921].)