A lawyer who practices alongside her spouse is not liable for a legal malpractice lawsuit against him if there’s no partnership agreement, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled.

While representations by attorney George Cotz might have given client Bonnie Messler the impression that she retained the law firm of Cotz & Cotz, Cotz’s spouse is not vicariously liable to the client because Messler did not rely on those representations in choosing counsel, the appeals court said. The ruling affirmed a district court judge’s decision dismissing the vicarious liability claim against Cotz’s wife, Lydia.