What the heck is a fiduciary?

Fiduciaries are people who are in a position of trust, and thus have a legal duty to be honest. Examples of fiduciaries are bankers, lawyers, and doctors. Let’s examine a case involving a breach of fiduciary duty…

Moore v. Regents of University of California (1990)

Facts
Mr. Moore was being treated for leukemia by Dr. Golde. After being pronounced healthy, Moore moved from California to Alaska. Soon after the move, Golde realized that Moore was an extremely rare patient; his cells were perfect for research. Golde convinced Moore to periodically return to UCLA (expenses paid) for treatment. Treatment consisted of continuing to give samples for Golde’s multi-million dollar research and product development. Moore was never informed of the research or his unique cells.

Moore sued for lack of informed consent and conversion. Conversion occurs when someone wrongfully exercises control over someone else’s property.

Questions
1. Is there lack of informed consent?
2. Is there a conversion issue?

Holding
1. Yes
2. No

Reasoning
1. As we already know, Dr. Golde had a duty to make Moore aware of the risks involved in any prospective procedure. But this case has nothing to do with Moore’s actual leukemia treatment. That’s why SCOTUS created a new doctrine: “A patient must also be made aware of any personal or economic research interests that the doctor might have.” As soon as Golde was aware of research possibilities he had a duty to inform Moore.

2. The court didn’t want to threaten legitimate researchers or get involved in the buying or selling of bodyparts. The conversion claim was thrown out, but it was noted that sooner or later SCOTUS would have to make a ruling on this issue.

And the winner is…
Moore settled out of court for 200k.

summarized from Life of a Law Student