In Huron Tool & Eng'g Co. v. Precision Consulting Serv. (1995) 209 Mich. App. 365 532 N.W.2d 541, a manufacturer sued a consulting service for breach of contract, breach of warranty, fraud and misrepresentation, alleging that the consulting service had supplied defective software. The alleged fraudulent representations, however, concerned only the quality and characteristics of the software system that had been sold to the plaintiff. Such representations were indistinguishable from the terms of the contract and warranty that the plaintiff manufacturer alleged were breached. There was no allegation that the consulting service committed any wrongdoing independent of the alleged breach of contract and warranty. Put another way, the plaintiff's allegations of fraud did not involve the inducement for the plaintiff manufacturer to enter into the contract, but rather related entirely to the defendant's performance of the terms of the contract; in short, the alleged misrepresentations were not extraneous to the contractual dispute. The Huron court concluded that, under such circumstances, the plaintiff was limited to its remedies under the Uniform Commercial Code. The court accepted the principle that the economic loss rule can apply to bar a fraud claim, but rejected the general proposition that it barred the prosecution of all fraud claims. After reviewing a number of cases from several jurisdictions, it concluded that a distinction has been made between fraud in the inducement of the contract, which is not barred by the economic loss rule, and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the performance of the contract, which are barred. "The distinction is critical, for the essence of the 'economic loss' rule is that contract law and tort law are separate and distinct, and the courts should maintain that separation in the allowable remedies. There is a danger that tort remedies could simply engulf the contractual remedies and thereby undermine the reliability of commercial transactions. Once the contract has been made, the parties should be governed by it. Fraud in the inducement, however, addresses a situation where the claim is that one party was tricked into contracting. It is based on precontractual conduct which is, under the law, a recognized tort. " ( Huron, supra, 532 N.W.2d at pp. 544-545.) "In light of this rationale, we decline to adopt defendants' position that the economic loss doctrine precludes any fraud claim. Fraud in the inducement presents a special situation where parties to a contract appear to negotiate freely--which normally would constitute grounds for invoking the economic loss doctrine--but where in fact the ability of one party to negotiate fair terms and make an informed decision is undermined by the other party's fraudulent behavior. In contrast, where the only misrepresentation by the dishonest party concerns the quality or character of the goods sold, the other party is still free to negotiate warranty and other terms to account for possible defects in the goods." (Id. at p. 545.) Thus, a fraud committed with respect to the performance of a contract that does not induce a plaintiff to enter into additional undertakings or cause any harm distinct from that caused by the breach of contract does not give rise to an independent action in tort. (Ibid.)