Does a lawyer owe a duty of care to a non-client third party?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Mukwa v. Farm Credit Canada, 2021 ONSC 1632 (CanLII):
Moreover, a lawyer owes no duty to the opposite party in litigation, or the lawyer would have a conflict of interest: 9383859 Canada Limited v. Saeed, 2020 ONSC 4883, at para. 32. There are very narrow grounds on which a lawyer may be found to owe a duty of care to a non-client third party. Those grounds require that a solicitor actually know that a non-client third party is relying on his or her skill, that the non-client third party must in fact rely on a solicitor’s guidance and skill, and that the reliance is reasonable: 9383859 Canada Limited, at para. 30. These very narrow, limited circumstances do not exist here. They are not even alleged.
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