Legal Definitions - misreading

Misreading refers to a specific type of fraud where one person intentionally deceives another by falsely describing the contents of a legal document before that person signs it. This form of deception typically occurs when the person signing is unable to read the document themselves, perhaps due to illiteracy, a visual impairment, or a significant language barrier, and therefore relies entirely on the other person's verbal representation of the document's terms. The perpetrator's goal is to trick the vulnerable individual into signing something they would not have agreed to if they knew its true provisions, thereby gaining an unfair advantage or causing harm.

Here are some examples illustrating misreading:

• An unscrupulous caregiver presents a stack of papers to an elderly client who is visually impaired, claiming they are routine medical consent forms. The caregiver intentionally misreads one document, stating it's a consent for a minor procedure, when it is actually a power of attorney granting the caregiver full control over the client's financial assets. By *incorrectly reading* the *instrument* (power of attorney) to the *visually impaired person* (elderly client) with the *intent to deceitfully obtain their signature*, the caregiver commits misreading.

• A landlord wants to implement new, unfavorable terms for a tenant who has limited literacy. The landlord prepares a new lease agreement that includes a clause allowing for immediate eviction for minor infractions. When presenting the new lease, the landlord reads it aloud to the tenant, deliberately omitting or misrepresenting the harsh eviction clause, and gets the tenant to sign, believing it's a standard renewal with no significant changes. Here, the landlord *incorrectly reads* the *instrument* (lease agreement) to the *person with limited literacy* (tenant) with the *intent to deceitfully obtain their signature* on terms they would not have accepted.

• A car salesperson is finalizing a purchase agreement with a customer who has difficulty reading English and trusts the salesperson's verbal assurances. The customer was promised a comprehensive extended warranty. When reviewing the final contract, the salesperson verbally confirms the warranty is included but deliberately skips over the section detailing the actual, much less comprehensive warranty, or misrepresents its terms, to get the customer to sign the purchase agreement. This is an act of misreading because the salesperson *incorrectly reads* the *instrument* (car purchase agreement) to the *customer with a language barrier/limited literacy* with the *intent to deceitfully obtain their signature* on a contract that does not include the promised warranty.