Maryland Law Review Volume 35 | Issue 4 Article 5 Deceit and Negligent Misrepresentation in Maryland Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr Part of the Torts Commons Recommended Citation Deceit and Negligent Misrepresentation in Maryland, 35 Md. L. Rev. 651 (1976) Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol35/iss4/5 This Casenotes and Comments is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maryland Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Notes and Comments DECEIT AND NEGLIGENT MISREPRESENTATION IN MARYLAND Falsehood is dangerous. The law recognizes that the victim of a false statement may suffer personal injury, property damage, or pecuniary loss as surely as may the victim of another's careless act.' Traditionally the torts of libel and slander have allowed recovery to victims of defamatory false statements, and the tort of deceit has provided recovery for false state- ments fraudulently made.2 But in Maryland and elsewhere, courts have been cautious in permitting recovery in tort for loss caused by misrepresentations that have been made in good faith, but carelessly. As a result of this judicial caution, the Maryland case law on this subject is confused and perhaps some- what contradictory. The purpose of this Comment is to explore the distinc- tion between the traditional common law action for deceit and the more modern action for negligent misrepresentation first recognized by the Court of Appeals as a valid cause of action in Virginia Dare Stores, Inc.