An Exception to the Attorney/Client Relationship Element of a Legal Malpractice Claim Filed in New Jersey

As previously explained, one of the most academic elements of a legal malpractice case is the existence of an attorney/client relationship. At times, an attorney has been held responsible for legal malpractice where the claimant was not a client.

Generally, the court will allow a non-client to assert liability against an attorney, when it is determined that the attorney intended or should have foreseen that the third-party would rely upon the attorneys’s advise or legal services. Thus, an attorney has been held responsible for a non-client’s losses, where the attorney supplied inaccurate percolation tests that where relied upon by the non-client to purchase property. On another occasion, a law firm was successfully sued because of a misrepresentations contained in a Public Offering Statement that induced a purchaser to enter into a transaction.