Opinion ID: 2995218
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ill Comp. Stat. 5/1-103. Because the

Text: common-law rule obligating a bank to ensure that the proceeds of a check payable to the bank are not misapplied conflicts with no provision of the Code that we can find, the concern underlying the Moorman rule is not present here. See Maxfield v. Simmons, 449 N.E.2d 110, 111- 12 (Ill. 1983) (concluding that Moorman did not bar contractor’s third-party claim for indemnity against supplier, because no provision of UCC purports to control issue of indemnity). Indeed, more recent cases from the Illinois Supreme Court suggest that a claim for economic loss may be pursued in tort as well as contract where, as here, the claim is founded on a duty of care that the law imposed on the defendant irrespective of the terms of the contract. In Collins v. Reynard, supra, a client filed a malpractice action against her attorney, alleging that the lawyer had caused her to suffer a financial loss by drafting certain sales documents in a manner that failed to protect her security interest in the property being sold. The supreme court rejected the notion that Moorman barred the tort claim. Although the court acknowledged that logic might support the application of Moorman to this situation, it cited a long line of Illinois precedents allowing recovery in tort for attorney malpractice as sufficient reason not to extend the Moorman rule to the realm of attorney- client relations. 607 N.E.2d at 1186. Logic may be a face card but custom is a trump, the court observed. Id. A concurring opinion in Collins, embraced by four of the court’s seven justices, pointed out that the Moorman rule is premised on the notion that the parties to a commercial transaction are free to bargain for warranties regarding the quality of goods and services rendered; but a person who engages an attorney invariably does so with the expectation that lawyer will serve her with reasonable skill and ability. Id. at 1189 (Miller, J., concurring). Indeed, tort law has long imposed a duty of competence upon the attorney without regard to the terms of any contract of employment entered into by a lawyer and his client. Id. at 1189. Consequently, the concurring