886
Scalia, J., dissenting
part of the product itself (for which recovery is not available) or "other property" (for which recovery is available).
It would have been better, in my view, not to grant certiorari in this case. By the time East River was decided, we had a wealth of lower court development to draw upon, including well-reasoned opinions taking no less than three distinct positions on the economic-loss rule. See id., at 868- 871. We could be confident in our decision, knowing that it broke little new ground; the rule we adopted had been endorsed by a majority of state courts and had been tested for two decades since its enunciation by Chief Justice Traynor in Seely v. White Motor Co., 63 Cal. 2d 9, 403 P. 2d 145 (1965). In the present case, by contrast, the Court sets sail into un-charted seas. Not a single lower court decision (other than the one under review) has addressed the precise question presented: the status as "other property" of additions made by a prior purchaser who was a user. I would feel less uncomfortable about our plying these unknown waters if we were skilled navigators. But unlike state courts, we have little first-hand experience in the development of new common-law rules of tort and contract governing commercial transactions. Better to have followed some state-court pilots than to proceed on our own—and even, perhaps, to lead state courts aground. With this disclaimer, and with the admission that I am only modestly more confident of my resolution of this case than I am of the Court's, I proceed (reluctantly) to discussion of the merits.
The Court's opinion suggests that this is a rather straightforward case. The relevant facts—according to the Court— are quite simple, showing: "(1) a Component Supplier who (2) provided a defective component . . . to a Manufacturer, who incorporated it into a manufactured product (the ship), which (3) the Manufacturer sold to an Initial User, who (4) after adding equipment and using the ship, resold it to a Subsequent User." Ante, at 878. What the Court's opinion does not disclose is that Madruga—the Court's "Initial
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