Accounting Firm Escapes Negligence Lawsuit Over Fraudster Theft

An accounting firm that unwittingly transfered more than $100,000 belonging to one its clients to a fraudster cannot be held liable, a federal appeals court held Thursday.

Coffee Capital & Development LLC’s negligence claim against RPT Restaurant Accounting Services LLC is fatally flawed because the accountant owed neither a common law duty of due care nor had a special relationship with the coffee company, Judge Kevin G. Ritz said. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to RPT.

“Coffee Capital’s claim is based on RPT’s allegedly defective contractual performance and ...