Court Opinion

ID: 9604635
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:24:37.804307+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:23.257991
License: Public Domain

DURHAM, Justice:
(concurring in the result).
I concur in the result reached by the majority, but only because of the evidence that an attorney-client relationship existed between Lehmer and Webster. Although we will not overturn a trial judge’s finding of fact under Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a) unless we conclude that it is “clearly erroneous,” the facts here present a very close case as to whether a confidential relationship existed between Webster and Mrs. Lehmer. As we said in Von Hake v. Thomas, 705 P.2d 766, 769 (Utah 1985):
The law presumes that one ordinarily makes his or her own judgments, however imperfect, and acts on them; it does not readily assume that one’s will has been overborne by another. Therefore, the law does not lightly recognize the existence of a confidential relationship.
In Von Hake, we found that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s finding that a confidential relationship existed between Von Hake and one Thomas, despite the fact that Thomas had clearly induced Von Hake, an aged man under great financial pressure, to believe that Thomas was only interested in “saving” Von Hake’s ranch, when in fact quite the contrary was true. In the present case, Leh-mer’s dealing with Webster over the actual sale is in many ways analogous to that of *1208Thomas toward Von Hake, although Leh-mer’s conduct does not rise to the level of actual fraud, as did Thomas’s.
On the other hand, in finding that a confidential relationship was not established in Von Hake, we specifically noted that there had been no proof of a “long-established relationship of trust” between Von Hake and Thomas that preceded their dealings. Thomas’s relationship to Von Hake was not “one that traditionally imposes a fiduciary duty, such as an attorney/client relationship.” 705 P.2d at 770. In my view, the trial court’s finding that a confidential relationship existed between Lehmer and Webster can be affirmed only because there is evidence that would support a finding that Lehmer acted as Webster’s attorney in this transaction. See In re Swan’s Estate, 4 Utah 2d 277, 293 P.2d 682 (1956). Absent that relationship, a trial court finding of a confidential relationship could not be sustained merely upon evidence that the two parties lived near each other, had a neighborly relationship, and one of them, at least in the eyes of the other, had a certain measure of expertise. These facts, standing alone, show nothing more than the unequal bargaining positions which are common in any contractual relationship and for which the law does not give a remedy. Given the drastic consequences a finding of a confidential relationship has for the parties to a contract, we should be very careful in defining the circumstances under which such a relationship can be found to exist.
ZIMMERMAN, J., having disqualified himself, does not participate herein; CHRISTENSEN, District Judge, sat.