Does a principal of a dual agent owe a fiduciary duty to the dual agent's other principal?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Cooper v. Equifirst Corp., C070471 (Cal. App. 2015):

An agent has a fiduciary duty to its principal, or principals, as the case may be, but plaintiff has cited no authority establishing a principal of a dual agent owes a fiduciary duty to the dual agent's other principal, and we have found none. A principal may be liable for his agent's fraud against the agent's other principal, but that liability would not arise under a theory of breach of a fiduciary duty. (See Feckenscher v. Gamble (1938) 12 Cal.2d 482, 497-498 [principal liable for damages suffered by dual agent's other principal on account of agent's false and fraudulent representations to other principal].)

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