Pringle v. Pattis

Citations

• 212 Conn. App. 736

Syllabus

The self-represented plaintiff, who was incarcerated following his convic- tion, on pleas of guilty, of various criminal charges including attempted murder, sought damages for, inter alia, the alleged legal malpractice of the defendants, attorneys who represented the plaintiff with respect to his criminal convictions. The plaintiff claimed that he suffered monetary damages as a result of the defendants' representation, alleging that, after entering into flat fee agreements for their services, the defendants demanded additional funds to continue their representation and that one of the defendants executed asset forfeiture agreements relating to approximately $17,000 that the state had seized from the plaintiff, with- out the plaintiff's knowledge or consent and after the applicable statutory (§§ 54-36h (b) and 54-36p (b)) period for the seizures had ended. The plaintiff also claimed that the defendants had pressured him into plead- ing guilty to the charges against him, even though he was not competent to do so at the time as a result of emotional distress caused by his mother's recent death. The trial court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss, concluding that it was without subject matter jurisdiction due to the exoneration rule, which required the plaintiff to demonstrate that his underlying convictions had been invalidated prior to proceeding with his legal malpractice claims. On the plaintiff's appeal to this court, held that the trial court improperly dismissed the plaintiff's claims relat- ing to the fee dispute and the forfeiture agreements but properly dis- missed, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the plaintiff's legal mal- practice claim as to the actions of the defendants in allegedly pressuring him to enter guilty pleas with respect to the charges against him: contrary to the plaintiff's claim, Connecticut courts have adopted and applied the exoneration rule to bar civil claims that necessarily imply the invalidity of an underlying conviction