Courts Reinforce Duty of Inquiry and Self-Protection, Rejecting Fraud Claims in Real Estate Transactions

The duty of self-protection is firmly embedded in the law of fraud. For example, even when demonstrable misrepresentations are made with an actual intent to defraud, the recipient of those false statements is not at liberty blindly to rely on those misrepresentations to its detriment and then obtain remedies in a civil action for fraud. The claimant must establish by clear and convincing evidence that it justifiably relied on those misrepresentations. See my Topic. Similarly, in order to take advantage of the more liberal statute of limitations governing actions for actual fraud, the claimant must act reasonably in attempting to discover the fraud as the CPLR extends the six-year statutory period to two years from the date the fraud was discovered or with reasonable diligence could have been discovered. CPLR 213(8).

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