Fiduciary Duty

Are you looking for legal assistance regarding a claim for breach of fiduciary duty? Call us at (216) 815-9500 or submit this form and one of our attorneys will contact you for a free consultation.

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A fiduciary is a person with a duty created when he assumes to act primarily for the benefit of another in an undertaking.  A fiduciary relationship arises when someone places trust or confidence in another to act on their behalf.  So long as the fiduciary knowingly accepts that trust, that person has a duty to act in the other’s best interest. 

Examples of fiduciary relationships include:  accountant and client, attorney and client, financial advisor and investor, shareholders in a close corporation, trustees and estate beneficiaries, and corporate directors of a close corporation to the shareholders and the corporation.  Some relationships that are NOT fiduciary are lender and borrower, vendor and purchaser and bank and depositor.  In certain, but not all, employment relationships an employee may owe a fiduciary duty to an employer. 

A fiduciary owes a duty of good faith and loyalty to the person on whose behalf he is acting, and must operate with the highest integrity, good faith and honesty.  If the fiduciary does not do so, he can be liable to the other person in the relationship for any damages caused by his breach of that duty.  A claim for breach of fiduciary duty is similar to a claim of negligence, but with a higher standard of care.  The elements of a claim of breach of fiduciary duty are (1) the existence of a duty arising from a fiduciary relationship, (2) the failure to observe the duty, and (3) a resulting injury.