Kenneth P. Felis v. Downs Rachlin Martin, Pllc, and Gallagher, Flynn & Company, LLP

Summary

The Supreme Court of Vermont affirmed the dismissal of a divorced husband's fraud and breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims against his former wife's law firm (DRM) and its retained valuation firm (GFC), holding that the complaint failed to plead justifiable reliance and knowledge of falsity with the particularity Rule 9(b) demands and that opposing counsel owes no duty to an adverse party, including through any asserted duty running to the marital estate. The Court held the plaintiff's newly urged prima facie tort theory waived and refused post-judgment amendment under Rule 15(a). On GFC's cross-appeal, the Court construed Vermont's anti-SLAPP statute, 12 V.S.A. § 1041, for the first time, holding that conduct must be 'in connection with a public issue' to be protected; because GFC's valuation testimony in the divorce concerned no public issue, the superior court's failure to rule on the motion to strike was harmless error.