## Facts

- Southern Illinois Riverboat Casino Cruises, Inc. operated the Players Island Casino on the vessel M/V Players II in Metropolis, Illinois.
- Players installed exterior air-conditioning ducts and needed a waterproof sealant to coat the insulation on the ductwork.
- A Players facilities manager contacted Triangle Insulation & Sheet Metal Co.; Triangle’s representative inspected and measured the application area.
- Players alleged it told Triangle the sealant would be applied outdoors on the stern during business hours while patrons and employees were on board.
- Players alleged Triangle recommended a particular sealant, Encacel V, which Triangle sold to Players but did not manufacture.
- Encacel V packaging contained a limitation-of-remedies clause that largely limited relief to a refund of the purchase price.
- After application, fumes allegedly spread through the vessel, causing illness complaints, forcing closure, and generating cleanup and related costs.
- Players sought recovery of purely economic losses (e.g., lost profits and operational expenses), not personal injury damages in this action and not damage to other property.
- In the district court, the warranty claim was resolved on summary judgment for Triangle; Players appealed only that warranty ruling.

## Issues

1. Whether, under Illinois law, a commercial buyer may recover purely economic losses from a non-manufacturer seller on express or implied warranty theories.
2. Whether the limitation-of-remedies clause associated with the product sale foreclosed recovery of broader economic damages by shifting the claim to the intermediary seller.
3. Whether any factual disputes about what the seller’s representative recommended or knew were material to the warranty claim’s legal viability.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Triangle.
- The court held Illinois law did not permit Players to recover purely economic losses from Triangle on the warranty theories asserted in these circumstances.
- The court treated the remedy limitation and the contract-based allocation of risk as barring an attempt to obtain broader economic damages from a non-manufacturer seller.
- Any disputes about the content of Triangle’s recommendation were immaterial because, as a matter of law, the warranty claim could not yield the requested economic-loss recovery.

## Legal Principles

- Under Illinois law, purely economic losses arising from disappointed commercial expectations are primarily addressed through contract and warranty remedies rather than tort-based theories.
- Illinois warranty doctrine, as applied to economic-loss claims, limits efforts to impose broad warranty liability on a non-manufacturer seller when the plaintiff seeks only commercial losses.
- A contractual limitation-of-remedies provision associated with a product sale may be enforced as an allocation of risk; a buyer may not obtain broader economic damages by recasting the claim against an intermediary seller.
- On summary judgment, factual disputes do not preclude judgment where they are not material to the controlling legal rule.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit held that Players could not use express or implied warranty theories to recover purely economic losses from Triangle, a non-manufacturer seller, where the transaction’s risk allocation included a limitation of remedies; accordingly, Triangle was entitled to summary judgment.


S. Ill. Riverboat Casino Cruises, Inc. v. Triangle Insulation & Sheet Metal Co., 302 F.3d 667 (7th Cir. 2002)