Opinion ID: 2455228
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Restatement Third

Text: We next address whether section 15(1)(c) of the Restatement (Third) of The Law Governing Lawyers, which only addresses the basis of liability for legal malpractice, may also provide the basis of liability for negligent misrepresentation. We do so because the court of appeals relied on it to find an attorney's duty of care to prospective clients, where no attorney-client relationship exists. Section 15(1)(c) imposes liability for malpractice in the absence of an attorney-client relationship, which contravenes Colorado law. Hence, we hold that it may not be used to support a claim of negligent misrepresentation. Section 15 of the Restatement (Third) of The Law Governing Lawyers requires attorneys to use reasonable care when they provide legal services to prospective clients. Section 15 states in relevant part: (1) When a person discusses with a lawyer the possibility of their forming a client-lawyer relationship for a matter and no such relationship ensues, the lawyer must... (c) use reasonable care to the extent the lawyer provides the person legal services. Section 15(1)(c) creates a standard of care in which attorneys may face civil liability for legal malpractice if they negligently provide legal services to prospective clients. Id. § 48 (Professional Negligence); § 51(1) (Duty of Care to Certain Nonclients). Negligent misrepresentation is addressed in a separate section of the Third Restatement. Id. § 51(2). Therefore, section 15(1)(c) is not a negligent misrepresentation standard of care. Rather, it addresses legal malpractice, which, as we have pointed out, is not at issue in this appeal. In addition to the fact that section 15(1)(c) does not address negligent misrepresentation, it blurs the distinction between a prospective client and a client because it subjects attorneys to the same civil liability and ethical responsibilities, irrespective of whether a person is a client or a prospective client. The distinction between a client and a prospective client is fundamental to Colorado law. In Colorado, attorneys do not owe a duty of reasonable care to non-clients  either for legal malpractice or under the ethical rules. Mehaffy, 892 P.2d at 240; Colo. RPC 1.18. A plaintiff must establish the existence of an attorney-client relationship to state a claim of legal malpractice. [7] Mehaffy, 892 P.2d at 239. Attorneys owe a host of ethical obligations to clients which they do not owe to prospective clients. See, e.g., Colo. RPC 1.1 (competence); 1.3 (diligence); 1.4 (communication). Section 15(1)(c) of the Restatement blurs the lines which are distinct in our jurisprudence to impose liability for legal malpractice broader than our precedent allows. Hence, it is inappropriate to rely on this subsection of the Restatement to define the tort of negligent misrepresentation. If we were to hold that the tort of negligent misrepresentation may be based on an attorney's duty of reasonable care to prospective clients, then this would diminish the requirement that a plaintiff must establish an attorney-client relationship in order to state a claim of malpractice. In other words, prospective clients could make legal-malpractice-like claims under the guise of negligent misrepresentation, to circumvent the requirement to prove an attorney-client relationship, a necessary element of the tort of legal malpractice. Hence, we hold that a claim of negligent misrepresentation may not be founded upon the requirement in section 15(1)(c) of the Third Restatement that attorneys owe a duty of reasonable care to prospective clients.