September 24, 2018: Partners Robert Klein and Richard Jones obtained final summary judgment on behalf of a law firm that represented buyers in a real estate transaction. The attorneys were accused by the seller of conspiring with or otherwise tortiously interfering with the seller’s contract with the buyers when one of the buyers quit-claimed their interest to another party without consent from the seller, in violation of the existing agreement. Later, the law firm represented the buyers in a foreclosure case. The summary judgment was premised in significant part upon agency law and the proposition that an attorney does not owe a duty to an adverse party in an arms-length transaction. The firm also argued that recognition of the duty being asserted by the seller would essentially have put the lawyer at odds with their own client.
