3.8.2 Sanctity of Contract

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

Underlying the ELR, universally, is the judicial devotion to the sanctity of contract: the conviction that private parties, through negotiation, are better suited then the courts to allocate risk and determine appropriate remedies. Arizona’s appellate courts are certainly no exception to this judicial reverence for freedom of contract, and their propensity for laissez-faire is graphically reflected in construction law cases, such as 1800 Ocotillo, LLC v. WLB Group, Inc.,^[1] and Washington Elementary School District No. 6 v. Baglino Corp.^[2]

In 1800 Ocotillo, the court of appeals enforced a contract provision limiting a corporate surveyor’s liability for its negligent performance to the contract sum. Noting that contract provisions, generally, are...