Desetti v. Chester

Plaintiff retained Defendant to represent her in a criminal matter. After a trial, Plaintiff was found guilty of felony assault and battery. Plaintiff subsequently filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus alleging that she was deprived of her constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. The habeas court granted the petition and vacated Plaintiff’s conviction, concluding that Defendant’s representation was constitutionally deficient. Plaintiff subsequently pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery. Thereafter, Plaintiff filed a legal malpractice claim against Defendant alleging that Defendant’s actions during the original criminal matter constituted malpractice. The circuit court sustained Defendant’s demurrer to the complaint, concluding that Plaintiff failed to state a claim because she was not actually innocent of the criminal act of assault that gave rise to the criminal matter in which the alleged malpractice occurred. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Plaintiff failed to satisfy her burden of pleading that the pecuniary injury she sought to recover was proximately caused by Defendant’s legal malpractice, rather than being proximately caused by her criminal actions. View "Desetti v. Chester" on Justia Law