Rattagan

Opinion of the Court by Corrigan, J.

At the request of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, we consider a question expressly left open in Robinson Helicopter v. Dana Corp. (2004) 34 Cal.4th 979 (Robinson). Under California law, may a plaintiff assert a tort claim for fraudulent concealment arising from or related to the performance of a contract?1 The answer to the question is a qualified yes. A plaintiff may assert a fraudulent concealment cause of action based on conduct occurring in the course of a contractual relationship if the elements of the claim can be established independently of the parties’ contractual rights and obligations, and the tortious conduct exposes the plaintiff to a risk of harm beyond the reasonable contemplation of the parties when they entered into the contract.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Allegations This case comes to us following dismissal of Michael R. Rattagan’s third amended complaint (TAC) without leave to amend. (Fed. Rules of Civ. Proc., rule 12(b)(6).) In answering

1 The Ninth Circuit framed the issue as follows: “Under California law, are claims for fraudulent concealment exempted from the economic loss rule?” We restated…