Loretta R. DeVaux v. American Home Assurance Company & another 1, 387 Mass. 814

Summary

The potential client (client) was injured in a fall and spoke to defendant attorney's secretary, requesting legal assistance. At the secretary's direction, the client put her request in writing, but the secretary misfiled the letter, and defendant attorney did not see it until after the statute of limitations had run on the client's tort claim. The court held that there were genuine issues of material fact relating to the existence of an attorney-client relationship because the secretary's actions may have been evidence of actual or apparent authority to establish an attorney-client relationship on behalf of the attorney. Thus, the secretary's knowledge of the client's request for legal advice was imputed to the attorney, and the attorney did nothing to negate plaintiff's detrimental reliance on the relationship the client thought had been created.