Portal:Law/Case/Week 26 2006
Meinhard v. Salmon, 164 N.E. 545 (N.Y. 1928), is a widely cited case in which the New York Court of Appeals held that partners in a business have a fiduciary duty to inform one another of business opportunities that arise.
In an opinion by famed jurist Benjamin Cardozo, the Court held that Salmon, as the managing partner of a building with a twenty year lease, owed his investing partner, Meinhard, a fiduciary duty. This included a duty to inform Meinhard of a new leasing opportunity set to arise after the original lease ended. Joint adventurers owe each other the highest duty of loyalty – "Not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive" – and Salmon, as managing partner has assumed a responsibility by which Meinhard must rely on him to manage the partnership.