Azar v. Quinn, 1 Mass. L. Rptr. 519 (1994)

Citation: Azar v. Quinn, 1 Mass. L. Rptr. 519 (1994)
Parent Document: Azar v. Quinn, 1 Mass. L. Rptr. 519 (1994)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 1994-01-15
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8351304/azar-v-quinn/ ↗

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In order to recover in an action for deceit against any of the several defendants, the plaintiffs must prove “that the defendant or its agent made a false representation of material fact with knowledge of its falsity for the purpose of inducing the plaintiffis] to act thereon, and that the plaintiff[s] relied upon the representation as true and acted upon it to [their] damage. (Citation omitted.) See also Restatement (Second) of Torts §525 (1977) (‘One who fraudulently makes a misrepresentation of fact, opinion, intention or law for the purpose of inducing another to act or to refrain from action in reliance upon it, is subject to liability to the other in deceit for pecuniary loss caused to [them] by [their] justifiable reliance upon the misrepresentation’”). International Totalizing Systems, Inc. v. PepsiCo, Inc., 29 Mass.App.Ct. 424, 431 (1990). A false representation of material fact may arise not only in the context of affirmative representations, but also by the failure to fully and accurately disclose the true nature of matters about which one is making any representation. Kannavos v. Annino, 356 Mass. 42, 48 (1969) (“Although there may be ‘no duty imposed upon one party to a transaction to speak for the information of the other ... if he does speak with reference to a given point of information, voluntarily or at the other’s request, he is bound to speak honestly and to divulge all the material facts bearing upon the point that lie within his knowledge. Fragmentary information may *523be as misleading ... as active misrepresentation, and half-truths may be as actionable as whole lies’ (citations omitted)”).

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