WOLLHEIM, J.
Plaintiff purchased a boat and trailer from Bridge City Watersports in a transaction financed by KeyBank. Later, Bridge City Watersports sold the same boat and trailer to a third party in a transaction that was also financed by KeyBank. Plaintiff filed a claim against Bridge City Watersports and KeyBank for negligence. Defendant KeyBank
In reviewing the trial court's order granting KeyBank's motion to dismiss, we accept all well-pleaded allegations from the complaint as true and give plaintiff the benefit of all favorable inferences that may be drawn from the allegations. Scovill v. City of Astoria, 324 Or. 159, 164, 921 P.2d 1312 (1996).
In November 2006, plaintiff bought a new boat and trailer from Bridge City Watersports. The purchase price of the boat and trailer was approximately $90,000. To finance the purchase, plaintiff obtained a consumer installment loan from KeyBank. The
In November 2007, Bridge City Watersports sold plaintiff's boat and trailer to a third party named Messmer, and KeyBank financed Messmer's purchase of plaintiff's boat and trailer. At the time of the sale and financing of plaintiff's boat and trailer to Messmer, KeyBank and Bridge City Watersports were both aware that plaintiff owned the boat and trailer. At the time of the 2007 sale, plaintiff did not know that his boat and trailer had been sold to Messmer or that KeyBank had financed the purchase. Later, plaintiff discovered his boat and trailer had been sold without his permission.
In December 2009, plaintiff filed a complaint against KeyBank, Bridge City Watersports, and a Bridge City Watersports employee, claiming negligence. Plaintiff alleged that, as a result of KeyBank financing Messmer's purchase, plaintiff had been denied the use and enjoyment of his boat and trailer. Plaintiff also alleged that, as a result of the sale and financing of the boat and trailer, "[t]he value of the boat has markedly deteriorated, and is now estimated to be $60,000."
KeyBank filed a motion to dismiss under ORCP 21 A(8), arguing that the complaint failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a claim because plaintiff's claim was barred by the economic loss doctrine and that plaintiff's damages were caused by the intervening criminal conduct of Bridge City Watersports, and not KeyBank's negligence.
On March 29, 2010, the trial court granted KeyBank's motion to dismiss.
On April 9, plaintiff filed and served a first amended complaint, claiming that KeyBank breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing; plaintiff also alleged claims against Bridge City Watersports and its employee for negligence and conversion.
In an "Order Allowing Entry of Judgment," the court stated:
On May 17, the court entered a judgment of dismissal and money award, dismissing plaintiff's claims against KeyBank. Later, the court entered a corrected limited judgment of dismissal and money award.
Plaintiff asserts that the trial court erred in entering judgment for KeyBank, because plaintiff could amend the complaint once as a matter of right under ORCP 23 A before KeyBank filed a responsive pleading. KeyBank relies on ORCP 21 A to argue that the trial court did not err in entering judgment because the court had not granted leave for plaintiff to file an amended complaint. For the reasons that follow, we agree with plaintiff that the trial court erred in entering a judgment dismissing the complaint.
We review a trial court's ruling on a motion to dismiss under ORCP 21 A for errors of law. Yanney v. Koehler, 147 Or.App. 269, 272, 935 P.2d 1235, rev. den., 325 Or. 368, 939 P.2d 45 (1997). Under ORCP 23 A, a party may amend a pleading once as a matter of right before a responsive pleading is served. Quillen v. Roseburg Forest Products, Inc., 159 Or.App. 6, 10, 976 P.2d 91 (1999).
KeyBank contends, however, that, once the court grants a motion to dismiss, ORCP 21 A provides the exclusive procedure for filing an amended complaint. ORCP 21 A provides, in part, "If the court grants a motion to dismiss, the court may enter judgment in favor of the moving party or grant leave to file an amended complaint." See also ORCP 25 A.
Reading ORCP 23 A and ORCP 21 A together, we conclude that a party may amend a complaint once as a matter of right before a responsive pleading is served, even if the court has dismissed the complaint. It is only if the trial court grants a motion to dismiss after the plaintiff has already filed an amended complaint or the defendant has filed a responsive pleading, that, under ORCP 21 A, the plaintiff must file a motion for leave to file an amended complaint. See Caldeen Construction v. Kemp, 248 Or.App. 82, 90, 273 P.3d 174 (2012) (holding that the trial court abused its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion to amend the complaint under ORCP 21 A).
In addition, neither party cites ORCP 15 B(2), which provides:
After oral argument, this court requested that the parties address the effect, if any, of ORCP 15 B(2) on the resolution of the issue presented here.
In Patterson v. Wasner, 128 Or.App. 254, 875 P.2d 506 (1994), we considered whether the trial court erred in dismissing an amended complaint when the defendants had not yet challenged the amended complaint. The plaintiffs argued that they were allowed, as a matter of right, to file an amended complaint because the trial court had granted the defendant's ORCP 21 A(8) motion. Id. at 257-58, 875 P.2d 506. We agreed with the plaintiffs that ORCP 23 A allowed an amended pleading in some circumstances. Id. at 258, 875 P.2d 506. However, we explained that ORCP 15 B(2) required that the amended pleading be filed within 10 days after service of the order granting the ORCP 21 A(8) motion. Id. The record revealed that the plaintiffs had not filed their amended complaint within 10 days of the order dismissing their complaint. We held that the trial court did not err in disregarding the untimely filed amended complaint. Id.
Here, the trial court granted defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint. Under ORCP 15 B(2), an amended complaint was "required" in order for plaintiff to continue his claim against all the defendants. Plaintiff had 10 days to file an amended complaint unless the order of dismissal "otherwise directs." The order of dismissal was silent on that issue. The trial court took the motion to dismiss under advisement after oral argument on the motion. The order of dismissal was filed on March 29, 2010. The court, and not one of the parties, prepared and presumably mailed the order to the parties the day the order was filed. Plaintiff's amended complaint has a date stamp of April 9.
Plaintiff also contends that the trial court erred in dismissing his claim for negligence in his original complaint against KeyBank on the grounds that the "economic loss doctrine" precluded the claim and plaintiff's damages were caused by the intervening criminal acts of the other defendants.
On a pretrial motion to dismiss under ORCP 21 A, "the trial court can dismiss only if the pleading on its face fails to state a claim." Business Men's Service Co. v. Union Gospel Ministries, 120 Or.App. 228, 229, 852 P.2d 199 (1993) (emphasis omitted). Under the economic loss doctrine, a party is not liable for negligently causing a stranger's purely economic loss without injuring the person or his or her property. Harris v. Suniga, 344 Or. 301, 308, 310-11, 180 P.3d 12 (2008) (holding that dry rot in an apartment building constituted property damage, not an "economic loss"). Appellate courts "use the term `economic losses' to describe financial losses such as indebtedness incurred and return of monies paid, as distinguished from damages for injury to person or property." Onita Pacific Corp. v. Trustees of Bronson, 315 Or. 149, 159 n. 6, 843 P.2d 890 (1992).
We turn next to KeyBank's intervening criminal acts argument. In Buchler, the court stated that "mere `facilitation' of an unintended adverse result, where intervening intentional criminality of another person is the harm-producing force, does not cause the harm so as to support liability for it." 316 Or. at 511-12, 853 P.2d 798. However, this is not a case in which we can tell from the pleadings that there was an "intervening" criminal act that would render the harm to plaintiff unforeseeable as a matter of law. Plaintiff alleged that KeyBank knew that plaintiff owned the boat and trailer but financed the second sale from Bridge City Watersports to Messmer anyway, creating an unreasonable risk that plaintiff would lose his boat and trailer. This situation — where KeyBank allegedly knew or should have known that it was facilitating the very harm that ultimately befell plaintiff — is not the type of situation in which a subsequent act by a third party severs the causal link as a matter of law.
Reversed and remanded.
In addition, ORCP 25 B states: