Lawson v. Nugent

• Decision Date: 12 December 1988
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 84-1840.
• Citation: 702 F. Supp. 91
• Parties: Gordon F. LAWSON, Plaintiff, v. Charles F. NUGENT, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

702 F. Supp. 91

Gordon F. LAWSON, Plaintiff, v. Charles F. NUGENT, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 84-1840.

United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

December 12, 1988.

Diane M. Acciavatti, Voorhees & Acciavatti, Morristown, N.J., for defendant.

Cynthia A. Walters, Budd, Larner, Gross, Picillo, Rosenbaum, Greenberg & Sade, Short Hills, N.J., for plaintiff.

SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LIFLAND, District Judge.

Presently before the court are motions in limine to determine whether emotional distress damages are recoverable in an action for legal malpractice and to what extent, if any, should certain legal fees be deducted from an award of damages. Although there is a paucity of case law on these issues, counsel have submitted extensive briefs and presented helpful oral argument. This court holds that plaintiff should be allowed to prove emotional distress damages. The issue of legal fees is reserved pending presentation of evidence at trial.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On May 31, 1977, plaintiff and four co-defendants were indicted for the robbery of the Atlantic City Post Office. Plaintiff, who was postmaster at the time of the commission of the crime, was charged with conspiracy to rob the post office, the actual robbery, and putting the post office guard's life in jeopardy by use of a handgun. After his arrest on June 3, 1977, plaintiff retained defendant as defense counsel. On September 27, 1977, allegedly upon the advice of defendant, plaintiff pleaded guilty to all three counts of the indictment including two aggravated counts which charged him with knowledge of the use of a weapon during the commission of the crime. Plaintiff alleges that defendant permitted and recommended the guilty plea without inquiring whether any factual basis existed for the plea, particularly with regard to the use of weapons. On January 7, 1978, plaintiff was sentenced to a 25-year prison term in a maximum security penitentiary.

While in prison, plaintiff retained other legal counsel to seek reduction of his sentence. On December 21, 1982, the court granted plaintiff's motion to vacate his guilty plea to the two aggravated counts of the indictment. Plaintiff was released from prison on January 3, 1983, after serving approximately five years in prison.

I.

In the instant suit, plaintiff alleges that but for defendant's negligent legal representation he would have served a maximum of forty months in a correctional facility. Plaintiff seeks damages for, among other things, the emotional anguish he sustained during the "extra" twenty months of confinement in a maximum security penitentiary.

Although not a guarantor against errors in judgment (citation omitted), an attorney is required to exercise on his client's behalf the knowledge, skill and ability ordinarily possessed and exercised by members of the legal profession similarly situated and to employ reasonable care and prudence in connection therewith. Where he breaches his duty he is answerable in damages only for losses which are proximately caused by his negligence. The burden of proving the causal relationship rests with the client (citations omitted). The test of proximate cause is satisfied where the negligent conduct is a substantial contributing factor in causing the loss. (citations omitted). The burden of proof must be carried by the presentation of competent credible evidence which proves material facts. It cannot be satisfied by conjecture, surmise or suspicion. (citations omitted).

Lamb v. Barbour, 188 N.J.Super. 6, 12, 455 A.2d 1122 (App.Div.1982).

In Gautam v. DeLuca, 215 N.J.Super. 388, 521 A.2d 1343 (App.Div.1987), plaintiffs brought an action for legal malpractice against their attorney for the negligent prosecution of a medical malpractice claim. Plaintiffs sought compensatory damages and damages for emotional distress. The court held that in the absence of egregious or extraordinary circumstances, damages for emotional distress were not recoverable in a legal malpractice action. The court started with the premise that an attorney is liable for damages which are proximately caused by his negligence. However, in determining what damages can be recoverable, the court focused upon the contract relationship whereby the attorney promised to prosecute his clients' claim so that they would be recompensed for their injuries. The parties had an essentially economic relationship. "In that context, the measure of damages is ordinarily the amount that the client would have received but for his attorney's negligence," and under these circumstances, "damages should be generally limited to recompensing the injured party for his economic loss." Id. at 397, 521 A.2d 1343. Further, "such damages are generally shown by introducing evidence establishing the viability and worth of the claim that was irredeemingly lost." Id.

The court also based its holding upon public policy considerations:

As a practical matter, there must be some convenient clamp or restriction placed upon a tortfeasor's otherwise boundless liability. The courts cannot serve as the answer for all of life's shortcomings and disappointments. Aggravation, annoyance and frustration, however real and justified, constitute unfortunate byproducts of daily living. Damages for idiosyncratic psychiatric reactions should not be permitted. Judicial lines must be drawn.

....

We emphasize that the relationship between the parties was predicated upon economic interest. The loss, if one occurred, was purely pecuniary. (emphasis added).

The instant case can be distinguished from Guatam v. DeLuca. The relationship between plaintiff-client and defendant-attorney was not necessarily predicated upon economic interest. Plaintiff did not retain defendant to prosecute a claim for economic loss. Rather, defendant was retained to provide a defense to criminal prosecution. The loss that plaintiff complains of is not purely pecuniary. Rather, plaintiff complains of a twenty-month loss of liberty in a maximum security penitentiary. This court is bound by Guatam v. DeLuca, to the extent it requires me to focus upon the attorney-client relationship to determine what damages, if any, are recoverable by plaintiff. Accordingly, the issue before this court is whether plaintiff can recover damages for emotional distress when his relationship with defendant was predicated upon a liberty, rather than a purely economic, interest.

This case presents an issue which few courts have addressed. In Geddie v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 354 So.2d 718 (La.App.1978), cert. denied, 356 So.2d 1011 (La.1978), plaintiff prevailed in a legal malpractice action, recovering emotional distress damages for his unlawful confinement. The damages award was based upon prison confinement under a four-year sentence for a crime which had a maximum penalty of two years. By stipulation between the parties, the sole issues before the Louisiana Court of Appeals were the trial judge's method of calculating the term of excessive incarceration and the amount of the award, and therefore the court did not discuss the propriety of emotional distress damages for wrongful confinement. However, in reducing plaintiff's award, the court implicitly approved the trial court's decision to allow proof of such damages.

In Bowman v. Doherty, 235 Kan. 870, 686 P.2d 112 (1984), the Supreme Court of Kansas reversed a lower court's ruling that limited proof of emotional distress damages in a legal malpractice action to actual physical injury. The court found that "the act of the attorney which led to the injury suffered by his client was the failure of the attorney to act, which caused the client to be placed in jail and deprived of his freedom. One being negligently deprived of his freedom suffers an injury which could cause mental distress." Id. at 119.

In Delesdernier v. Porterie, 666 F.2d 116 (5th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 839, 103 S.Ct. 86, 74 L.Ed.2d 81 (1983), emotional distress damages were awarded to the prevailing party in a legal malpractice action where the attorney negligently withdrew from a case. Although the issue on appeal was whether the trial court acted properly in granting a remittitur, the court found that "the evidence supported a finding that plaintiff suffered some emotional distress from defendant's withdrawal from her case." Id. at 124. Again, the court implicitly approved the trial court's decision to allow proof of plaintiff's emotional distress.

The First Circuit has squarely addressed the issue of whether emotional distress damages are recoverable for the wrongful deprivation of liberty. In Wagenmann v. Adams, 829 F.2d 196 (1st Cir.1987), plaintiff brought a civil rights action against several police officers and a malpractice action against his attorney. The police allegedly made a false arrest and, due to negligent representation by his attorney, plaintiff was confined to a psychiatric hospital. Plaintiff prevailed and was awarded damages for mental distress. On appeal, the attorney argued that his former client was not entitled to receive damages for emotional distress and that recovery in a legal malpractice action was limited to economic loss. In affirming the lower court, the First Circuit held that "an attorney who commits malpractice is liable to his client for any reasonably foreseeable loss caused by his negligence including emotional distress resulting from the loss of liberty." Id. at 222.

In this diversity case, this court must decide the issues in accordance with the law of New Jersey. Erie Railroad Company v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938). Damages for emotional distress have been allowed by New Jersey courts in an increasing number and variety of contexts. See, e.g., Ayers v. Jackson Township, 106 N.J. 557, 525 A.2d 287 (1987) (fear of cancer by residents who alleged exposure to toxic waste may provide a basis for a claim of emotional distress); Saunderlin v. E.I. DuPont Co., 102 N.J. 402, 508 A.2d...