The case was Webb v. Leclair 2007 VT 65 [Filed 12-Jul-2007]
¶ 1. [Plaintiff] appeals a summary judgment for [defendant] on her claims of negligent misrepresentation, fraud, consumer fraud, and negligence arising from defendant's appraisal of a home she purchased. The appraisal was done on behalf of plaintiff's mortgage lender. Plaintiff argues that the superior court erred ... in dismissing her consumer fraud count. We hold ... that plaintiff's consumer fraud claim is in fact an assertion of malpractice that is outside the scope of our consumer fraud law. We therefore affirm.
In so holding, the Court approved the federal court's ruling in Kessler v. Loftus, 994 F. Supp. 240 (D. Vt. 1997) that a legal opinion is generally not actionable under Vermont's consumer fraud law. Here is what the Vermont Supreme Court wrote:
¶ 23. We now expressly adopt the Kessler court's interpretation, based on Winton, that although certain representations may give rise to a malpractice claim, they are generally not actionable under the Consumer Fraud Act if they are the product of the defendant's "professional judgment based upon his legal knowledge and skill." Kessler, 994 F. Supp. at 243 (quotations and ellipses omitted). A plaintiff cannot simply recast a malpractice claim as a consumer fraud claim. Moreover, for purposes of this rule, we see no meaningful distinction between lawyers and other professionals hired to give a "specialized or expert interpretation" of a matter, as defendant was here. Winton, 147 Vt. at 240, 515 A.2d at 374.
