MRPC Rule 4.1

In the course of representing a client, a lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of

material fact or law to a third person.

Misrepresentation.

Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct 67 Updated with MSC order(s)

A lawyer is required to be truthful when dealing with others on a client’s behalf, but generally

has no affirmative duty to inform an opposing party of relevant facts. A misrepresentation can

occur if the lawyer incorporates or affirms a statement of another person that the lawyer knows is

false.

Statements of Fact.

This rule refers to statements of fact. Whether a particular statement should be regarded as one

of fact can depend on the circumstances. Under generally accepted conventions in negotiation,

certain types of statements ordinarily are not taken as statements of material fact. Estimates of

price or value placed on the subject of a transaction and a party’ s intentions as to an acceptable

settlement of a claim are in this category, and so is the existence of an undisclosed principal

except where nondisclosure of the principal would constitute fraud.

Fraud by Client.

Making a false statement may include the failure to make a statement in circumstances in which

silence is equivalent to making such a statement. Thus, where the lawyer has made a statement

that the lawyer believed to be true when made but later discovers that the statement was not true,

in some circumstances failure to correct the statement may be equivalent to making a statement

that is false. When the falsity of the original statement by the lawyer resulted from reliance upon

what was told to the lawyer by the client and if the original statement if left uncorrected may

further a criminal or fraudulent act by the client, the provisions of Rule 1.6(c)(3) give the lawyer

discretion to make the disclosure necessary to rectify the consequences.