In NBIS Constr. & Transp. Ins. Servs., Inc. v. Liebherr-America, Inc., No. 22-14104 (11th Cir. Feb. 29, 2024), a magistrate judge considered a negligence claim for damages to a crane arising from the collapse of the crane boom. The plaintiff argued that the defendant crane distributor was negligent for failing to properly train the plaintiff’s employees and failing to timely transmit a safety bulletin.  The defendant argued that the economic loss rule applied to preclude products liability actions when the product only damages itself. The magistrate ruled that the economic loss rule did not apply because the parties had stipulated that the crane was not defective. Based on the stipulation, the magistrate concluded that the negligence action was not a products liability action but “an action alleging negligent services provided.” On appeal, the defendant argued that the theories of negligence were essentially failure to warn claims, to which the economic loss rule had traditionally been applied. The Eleventh Circuit found merit in both positions and certified the following question: “Whether, under Florida law, the economic loss rule applies to negligence claims against a distributor of a product, stipulated to be non-defective, for the failure to alert a product owner of a known danger, when the only damages claimed are to the product itself?” View the opinion here.