Travelers Casualty & Surety v. Reznik Group, P.C.

271 F. App'x 833
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 25, 2008
Docket07-12557
StatusUnpublished

This text of 271 F. App'x 833 (Travelers Casualty & Surety v. Reznik Group, P.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travelers Casualty & Surety v. Reznik Group, P.C., 271 F. App'x 833 (11th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Appellant Travelers Casualty & Surety Company of America appeals the district court’s order granting Appellee Reznick Group, P.C.’s Motion to Dismiss brought pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) and dismissing Travelers’ complaint for failure to state a claim, and the district court’s order denying Travelers’ Motion for Reconsideration, to Alter or Amend Judgment, for Relief from Judgment, or, in the Alternative, for Leave to File an Amended Complaint.

This suit involves a claim by Travelers that it suffered loss on a performance bond it issued after relying on a financial statement prepared by accountant, Reznick, which proved to be inaccurate, as a result of Reznick’s alleged negligence.

The issues before the court on appeal are (1) whether the district court erred in concluding that Travelers’ complaint failed to state a claim for negligent misrepresentation, and (2) whether the district court abused its discretion by refusing to allow Travelers to file an amended complaint.

*835 The court reviews de novo a district court’s granting of a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Glover v. Liggett Group, Inc., 459 F.3d 1304, 1308 (11th Cir.2006) (per curiam). The court reviews for abuse of discretion a district court’s order denying leave to amend a complaint. Florida Evergreen Foliage v. E.I. DuPont De Nem-ours and Co., 470 F.3d 1036, 1040 (11th Cir.2006) (per curiam). In this diversity case we apply the substantive law of Georgia, the state of the forum. See Provau v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 772 F.2d 817, 820 (11th Cir.1985) (per curiam).

After reviewing the record and the parties’ appellate briefs, and hearing oral argument, for the reasons discussed below, we affirm the district court’s judgment.

In extending liability to professionals, including accountants, for negligence in supplying information relied on by third parties, Georgia has adopted a “middle ground” standard between unlimited foreseeability and privity, which is derived from Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 552 (1977). Badische Corp. v. Caylor, 257 Ga. 131, 356 S.E.2d 198, 199-200 & n. 2 (1987). Under this standard, a professional who supplies information can be liable for negligence only to a known person, or limited class of persons, where the professional was also manifestly aware of the use to which the information was to be put and intended that it be so used. Robert & Co. Assoc. v. Rhodes-Haverty P’ship, 250 Ga. 680, 300 S.E.2d 503, 504 (1983); Badische Corp., 356 S.E.2d at 200. The duty of professionals to third parties is a relative standard of care which “may be defined only in terms of the use to which the information will be put, weighed against the magnitude and probability of loss that might attend that use if the information proves to be incorrect.” Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 552 cmt. a.

In arguing that it adequately pled a claim of negligent misrepresentation under Georgia law, Travelers has pointed to a statement of the elements of such a claim, including that third persons must reasonably rely on information provided by the professional, as stated in Squish La Fish, Inc. v. Thomco Specialty Products, Inc., 149 F.3d 1288, 1291 (11th Cir.1998). Under Georgia law, however, it is “the purpose for which the report or representation was made,” which informs the inquiry of the reasonableness of reliance. Robert & Co., 300 S.E.2d at 504. The professional who provides the information relied on must know the purpose for which the information would be used and intend that purpose. Id.

The identification of the purpose for which third parties were alleged to rely on the information provided by Reznick is contained in paragraph 11 of the complaint filed by Travelers. Paragraph 11 states that third parties would rely on Reznick’s audit statement in deciding whether to “extend credit or otherwise accept liabilities” of PRS Construction, LLC. (Complaint p. 3, K 11). This statement of purpose includes, and is much broader than, the issuance of performance bonds referenced elsewhere in the complaint. Paragraph 12 further states that Reznick was manifestly aware of the use to which the information would be put and intended that use. When these two paragraphs are read together, they allege that Reznick was manifestly aware that third parties would use the information Reznick provided in deciding whether to extend credit or otherwise accept liabilities of PRS Construction, LLC in unspecified amounts.

The complaint alleges knowledge of such broad purposes that it is inconsistent with the requirement of Georgia law that the professional’s liability be limited to loss suffered through reliance on information supplied “in a transaction [the professional] intends the information to influence or *836 knows that the recipient so intends or in a substantially similar transaction.” Robert & Co., 300 S.E.2d at 504 n. 1 (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 552). The allegations of the complaint are not limited to intended or substantially similar transactions, but include all transactions in which liability of PRS Construction, LLC is accepted by third parties.

In addition, the allegations of the complaint parallel the illustration offered in the Restatement section adopted by Georgia, wherein an accountant would not be liable to a bank which relies on an audit statement prepared for the accountant’s client to issue a loan, even though the accountant knows that financial statements are used in financial transactions and relied on by lenders, investors, and shareholders, because the accountant is not informed of the intent to use the accountant’s audit to obtain that particular loan. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 552, cmt. h, illus. 10.

Accordingly, under de novo review, Glover v. Liggett Group, Inc., 459 F.3d 1304, 1308 (11th Cir.2006), the district court did not err in concluding that the allegations of the original complaint were insufficient to state a claim of negligent misrepresentation under Georgia law. See also Bank of N. Ga. v. Reznick Group, P.C., 262 Fed.Appx. 928 (11th Cir.2008) (unpublished).

The second issue presented in this appeal is whether the district court abused its discretion by disallowing Travelers’ proposed amended complaint.

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271 F. App'x 833, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travelers-casualty-surety-v-reznik-group-pc-ca11-2008.