Opinion ID: 1598427
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Attorney Misrepresentation

Text: Even though Flynn freely signed the release, she claims her attorney failed to explain all its consequences, noting that she never would have signed it had she known that Lockhart would be discharged. In Johnson v. Rapid City Softball Ass'n, 514 N.W.2d 693, 697 (S.D.1994), this Court stated, A release is not fairly made and is invalid if the nature of the instrument was misrepresented or there was other fraudulent or overreaching conduct. Yet to invalidate a release such wrongful conduct must occur between opposing parties, not between attorneys and their clients. As a general principle, one who accepts a written contract is conclusively presumed to know its contents and to assent to them, in the absence of fraud, misrepresentation, or other wrongful act by another contracting party.  17A AM.JUR.2D CONTRACTS § 224 (1991) (emphasis added). See Johnson v. Allis Chalmers Corp., 162 Wis.2d 261, 470 N.W.2d 859, 868 (1991). To allow parties, who freely sign releases of liability, to later disavow the aftermath because they claim their own attorneys misled them, would undermine the orderly resolution of personal injury claims. Cf. Link v. Wabash Railroad Co., 370 U.S. 626, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962). Her attorney's alleged misrepresentation cannot negate the import of Flynn's release.