CACI No. 4106. Breach of Fiduciary Duty by Attorney - Essential Factual Elements

Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2024 edition)

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4106 . Breach of Fiduciary Duty by Attorney - Essential Factual

[ Name of plaintiff ] claims that [he/she/ nonbinary pr onoun /it] was harmed

because [ name of defendant ] breached an attorney’ s duty [ describe duty ,

e.g., “not to r epr esent clients with conflicting inter ests” ]. T o establish this

claim, [ name of plaintiff ] must prove all of the following:

1. That [ name of defendant ] breached the duty of an attorney

[ describe duty ];

2. That [ name of plaintiff ] was harmed; and

3. That [ name of defendant ]’s conduct was a substantial factor in

causing [ name of plaintiff ]’s harm.

New September 2003; Revised April 2004; Renumber ed from CACI No. 605

December 2007; Revised May 2019, May 2020

Directions for Use

The existence of a fiduciary relationship is a question of law . Whether an attorney

has breached that fiduciary duty is a question of fact. ( David W elch Co. v . Erskine &

T ulley (1988) 203 Cal.App.3d 884, 890 [250 Cal.Rptr . 339], disapproved on other

grounds in Lee v . Hanley (2015) 61 Cal.4th 1225, 1239 [191 Cal.Rptr .3d 536, 354

Give CACI No. 430, Causation: Substantial Factor , with this instruction.

The causation standard for an attorney’ s intentional breach of fiduciary duty differs

from that for a negligent breach. If the plaintif f alleges an attorney’ s intentional

breach of duty , do not include the optional last sentence of CACI No. 430,

Causation: Substantial Factor , on “but for” causation. The “but for” causation

standard does not apply to an intentional breach of fiduciary duty . If the plaintif f

alleges an attorney’ s negligent breach of duty , the “but for” (“would have happened

anyway”) causation standard applies. ( Knutson v . Foster (2018) 25 Cal.App.5th

1075, 1093-1094 [236 Cal.Rptr .3d 473]; see V iner v . Sweet (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1232

[135 Cal.Rptr .2d 629, 70 P .3d 1046].) If the plaintif f alleges a negligent breach of

duty , give the optional last sentence of CACI No. 430: “Conduct is not a substantial

factor in causing harm if the same harm would have occurred without that conduct.”

If the plaintif f alleges both negligent breach and intentional or fraudulent breach, the

jury must be instructed on both causation standards and it should be made clear

which causation standard applies to which claim.

If the harm allegedly caused by the defendant’ s conduct involves the outcome of a

legal claim, the jury should be instructed with CACI No. 601, Legal

Malpractice - Causation , for the “but for” standard. (See Gutierr ez v . Girar di (201 1)

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194 Cal.App.4th 925, 928, 933-937 [125 Cal.Rptr .3d 210] [discussing circumstances

when a client need not show that they objectively would have obtained a better

result in the underlying case in the absence of the attorney’ s breach (the trial-within-

a-trial method)].)

Sources and Authority

• “ ‘The relation between attorney and client is a fiduciary relation of the very

highest character .’ ” ( Neel v . Magana, Olney , Levy , Cathcart & Gelfand (1971) 6

Cal.3d 176, 189 [98 Cal.Rptr . 837, 491 P .2d 421].)

• “ ‘The breach of fiduciary duty can be based upon either negligence or fraud

depending on the circumstances. It has been referred to as a species of tort

distinct from causes of action for professional negligence [citation] and from

fraud [citation].’ ‘The elements of a cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty

are the existence of a fiduciary relationship, breach of fiduciary duty , and

damages.’ ” ( Knutson, supra , 25 Cal.App.5th at pp. 1093-1094, internal citation

• “Substantial factor causation is the correct causation standard for an intentional

breach of fiduciary duty .” ( Knutson, supra , 25 Cal.App.5th at p. 1094.)

• “The trial court applied the legal malpractice standard of causation to [plaintif f]’ s

intentional breach of fiduciary duty cause of action. The court cited The Rutter

Group’ s treatise on professional responsibility to equate causation for legal

malpractice with causation for all breaches of fiduciary duty: ‘ “The rules

concerning causation, damages, and defenses that apply to lawyer negligence

actions . . . also govern actions for breach of fiduciary duty .” ’ This statement of

the law is correct, however , only as to claims of breach of fiduciary duty arising

from negligent conduct.” ( Knutson, supra , 25 Cal.App.5th at p. 1094, internal

citations omitted.)

• “Expert testimony is not required, but is admissible to establish the duty and

breach elements of a cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty where the

attorney conduct is a matter beyond common knowledge.” ( Stanley , supra, 35

Cal.App.4th at p. 1087, internal citations omitted.)

• “The scope of an attorney’ s fiduciary duty may be determined as a matter of law

based on the Rules of Professional Conduct which, ‘together with statutes and

general principles relating to other fiduciary relationships, all help define the

duty component of the fiduciary duty which an attorney owes to his [or her]

client.’ ” ( Stanley , supra, 35 Cal.App.4th at p. 1087.)

Secondary Sources

1 W itkin, California Procedure (5th ed. 2008) Attorneys, § 87 et al.

V apnek et al., California Practice Guide: Professional Responsibility ¶ 6:425 (The

Rutter Group)

3 Levy et al., California T orts, Ch. 32, Liability of Attorneys , § 32.02[4] (Matthew

7 California Forms of Pleading and Practice, Ch. 76, Attorney Pr ofessional Liability ,

CACI No. 4106 BREACH OF FIDUCIAR Y DUTY

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§ 76.150 (Matthew Bender)

2A California Points and Authorities, Ch. 24A, Attorneys at Law: Malpractice ,

§§ 24A.43, 24A.56B (Matthew Bender)

BREACH OF FIDUCIAR Y DUTY CACI No. 4106

Page last reviewed May 2024

Kathryn Robb

Kathryn Robb, National Director of the Children’s Justice Campaign at Enough Abuse, discusses Vice President Kamala Harris’s unusual mention of child sexual abuse during her Democratic National Convention speech and its broader implications for addressing this issue in America.

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