Ritchie v. Clappier

Defendants appeal from the judgment canceling the plaintiff’s quitclaim deed to them on grounds of fraud. The trial court predicated fraud on two grounds: first, defendants’ failure to disclose to plaintiff a legal effect of his deed to them, and, second, a misrepresentation by defendants to plaintiff that the document he signed was only an agreement regarding a rental security deposit. The dispositive issues are whether defendants had a duty to make the disclosure and whether plaintiff negligently failed to ascertain that the document was a deed. We conclude that defendants had no duty to…