Attorney Immunity Does Not Apply to Claims of Fraud

August 20, 2014

In this wrongful foreclosure action, plaintiffs sued the law firm handling the foreclosure, alleging, among other things, fraud.  The trial court granted the law firm’s motion for summary judgment based on the attorney immunity doctrine, which generally provides that “an attorney’s conduct, even if frivolous or without merit, is not actionable as long as the conduct was part of the discharge of the lawyer’s duties in representing his or her client.”

The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision, however, because the attorney immunity doctrine does not extend to allegations of fraud.

Santiago v. Mackie Wolf Zientz & Mann PC