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PLAINTIFF DEEMED TO HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE SETTLEMENT DOCUMENT BEFORE SIGNING, LEGAL MALPRACTICE COMPLAINT AGAINST HER ATTORNEYS PROPERLY DISMISSED.

The Second Department determined plaintiff’s legal malpractice and fraudulent concealment complaint against her prior attorneys was properly dismissed. Plaintiff alleged she was not aware a document she signed settled a lawsuit for $200,000. The court explained she was deemed to have read and understood the document before signing it:

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” A party is under an obligation to read a document before he or she signs it, and a party cannot generally avoid the effect of a [document] on the ground that he or she did not read it or know its contents'” … . Generally, a cause of action alleging that the plaintiff was induced to sign something different from what he or she thought was being signed only arises if the signer is illiterate, blind, or not a speaker of the language in which the document is written … . Here, the … defendants established their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the causes of action asserted against the … firm … by presenting evidence that the plaintiff could read and understand English, that she had the opportunity to read the document dated June 10, 2009, which expressly stated that she was accepting $200,000 “as full and final compensation for her loss of services claim,” and that she never expressed any difficulty understanding the terms of the document … . In opposition, the plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether she was incapable of understanding the document signed by her based on her conclusory testimony that “[n]o one . . . explained [it] to me.” Anderson v Dinkes & Schwitzer, P.C., 2017 NY Slip Op 03721, 2nd Dept 5-19-17

CONTRACT LAW (PLAINTIFF DEEMED TO HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE SETTLEMENT DOCUMENT BEFORE SIGNING, LEGAL MALPRACTICE COMPLAINT AGAINST HER ATTORNEYS PROPERLY DISMISSED)

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