Auditor not fiduciary despite ‘special circumstances’ claim

The Bottom Line

By John M. Fitzgerald

John M. Fitzgerald is a partner at Tabet, DiVito & Rothstein LLC. His practice is focused on appeals and commercial litigation. He can be reached at jfitzgerald@tdrlawfirm.com.

Posted March 10, 2020 5:02 PM

In a case of first impression for Illinois courts, the 1st District Appellate Court recently held that independent auditors normally are not fiduciaries for their audit clients.The case is Asian Human Services Family Health Center Inc. v. Asian Human Services Inc., 2020 IL App (1st) 191049 (opinion issued Feb. 14, 2020).In Asian Human Services, two similarly named service organizations were embroiled in contract litigation against one another. The defendant in that litigation, Asian Human Services, filed a third-party …

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