St. Louis v. Wilkinson Law Offices, P.C.
Maine Supreme Judicial Court
55 A.3d 443 (2012)
The St. Louis borrowers (plaintiffs), with no prior commercial-loan experience, sued their mortgage broker and separately sued a law firm (codefendant) whose attorney, Sarah Wilkinson, served only as closing settlement agent -- not as anyone's lawyer -- and accurately read aloud a summary noting the loan's prepayment clause was common and estimated the penalty at about $13,000. The borrowers actually incurred a prepayment penalty exceeding $100,000 when they paid the loan off early. The trial judge dismissed the negligent-misrepresentation claim against the firm, finding Wilkinson's statements accurate and unconnected to who prepared the underlying (inaccurate) summary; the borrowers appealed.
Whether a party to a real estate transaction may commit the tort of negligent misrepresentation by communicating false information to another party to the transaction.