North Bay Council, Inc. v. Bruckner

A 1951 deed contained several restrictive conditions, including a right of first refusal, and its text made it doubtful whether that right (unlike one explicitly time-limited condition) had actually expired; when North Bay Council (plaintiff) considered buying the property in 1961, its attorney Bruckner (defendant) reviewed the deed and orally advised that all restrictions, including the first-refusal clause, had expired. The council relied on this advice and bought the property in 1962, only to discover by 1979 that the unexpired first-refusal clause clouded its title, ultimately allowing the original grantor's heirs to claim a right to buy the property back at the 1962 price; after losing a quiet-title action, the council sued Bruckner for malpractice, and the jury found for Bruckner.