Section 3.8.2 Sanctity of Contract

• Library: Construction Law Practice Manual 3rd Edition 2016

§ 3.8.2 Sanctity of Contract

Underlying the ELR universally is judicial devotion to sanctity of contract - the conviction that private parties, through negotiation, are better suited than 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 Dist. No. 6 v. Baglino Corp.²

In 1800 Ocotillo, the court of appeals enforced a contract provision limiting to the contract sum a corporate surveyor’s liability for its negligent performance. Noting that contract provisions, generally, are unenforceable only if they violate public policy, and that courts are most hesitant to declare contractual...