Jeff Schmitz v. Sun Life Assurance Company

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• stating that “we look to statutory issues first in order to avoid unnecessary constitutional questions”
• noting “[o]rdinarily, we construe statutes to avoid potential constitutional infirmity if we may reasonably do so”
• noting need to consider Sixth Amendment right to counsel to guide interpretation of statute governing payment of attorney fees for representing indigent defendants
• explaining, in structural 31 challenge to hard cap on appellate fees for court-appointed counsel, “we focus not on establishing a system that provides reasonable compensation to a lawyer, but on one that is designed to provide effective assistance of counsel”
• explaining, in structural 31 challenge to hard cap on appellate fees for court-appointed counsel, “we focus not on establishing a system that provides reasonable compensation to a lawyer, but on one that is designed to provide effective assistance of counsel”
• explaining, in structural 31 challenge to hard cap on appellate fees for court-appointed counsel, “we focus not on establishing a system that provides reasonable compensation to a lawyer, but on one that is designed to provide effective assistance of counsel”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).