Section 3.8.8 Tort vs. Contract: Measure of Damages

• Library: Construction Law Practice Manual 3rd Edition 2016

§ 3.8.8 Tort vs. Contract: Measure of Damages

As to the measure of damages, the distinction between contract law and tort law is imperceptible. Regarding contract law, Arizona law is consistent with that of most American jurisdictions. First and foremost, the judicial remedies in contract actions serve to protect a promisee’s expectation interest?realizing “the benefit of his bargain by being put in as good a position as he would have been in had the contract been [properly] performed.”³¹

In addition, contract remedies may be evoked to protect a promisee’s reliance interest.³² The promisee may have changed his position in reliance on the contract, for example, by incurring expenses in preparing to perform, in performing, or in...