Can Someone Get Sued for Making a False Statement?

Penal Code section 125 makes it a crime to make an unqualified statement of something which one does not know to be true. Civil Code section 1710 defines deceit as making a “suggestion, as a fact, of that which is not true, by one who does not believe it to be true” or “The assertion, as a fact, of that which is not true, by one who has no reasonable ground for believing it to be true.”

Civil Code section 1714(a) says that “Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person”.

More traditionally, there can be fraud if there is suppression of a fact, by one who is bound to disclose it. It can also be fraud to give information of other facts which are likely to mislead for want of communication of that fact. Finally there can be fraud if someone makes a promise, made without any intention of performing it.

Civil Code § 1710 explicitly defines deceit to include the suppression of a fact by one who is bound to disclose it or who gives information of other facts which are likely to mislead for the lack of communication of that fact. See: Lingsch v. Savage, 213 Cal.App.2d 729 (1963) or M. G. Chamberlain & Co. v. Simpson, 173 Cal.App.2d 263 (1959)

In Blickman Turkus, LP v. MF Downtown Sunnyvale, LLC 162 Cal.App.4th 858 (2008) the court stated that a duty to disclose arises from the making of affirmative representations with knowledge of undisclosed facts that materially qualify the facts disclosed or render the disclosed facts likely to mislead.

The context matters.  Medical Doctors are fiduciaries and have a special obligation to be accurate and complete when the speak with patients.  Car salesman are adversaries to their customers (despite the friendly relationship that usually exists in such a relationship).  Still Puffery about a car might slide by as "sales" but a specific representation may well fall under Penal Code section 125 or Civil Code 1710.

If you are involved in a fraud dispute, our office can help you navigate the landmines and work toward a reasonable resolution.