Cofield v. Smith
Decision Date | 29 August 1986 |
Parties | Keenan COFIELD v. Jeff SMITH, et al. 84-1298. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Connie W. Parson, Birmingham, for appellant.
James M. Gaines, Huntsville, for appellees.
The plaintiff, Keenan Cofield, appeals from a summary judgment granted in favor of the defendants, Jeff Smith and Smith, Gaines, Gaines, and Sabatini, P.A., in this action seeking damages for legal malpractice. We affirm.
The undisputed material facts in this case show the following: The defendants are licensed attorneys in this state. In 1978 they represented the plaintiff in a felony prosecution in Madison County which ultimately resulted in the plaintiff's being convicted and sentenced pursuant to a guilty plea, which he entered on December 21, 1978. The plaintiff filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Madison County on June 11, 1985, alleging that the defendants were negligent in advising him to plead guilty to the offense as stated in the 1978 indictment. This allegation is based upon a 1985 adjudication by the Circuit Court of Jefferson County (Bessemer Division) pursuant to a petition filed by the plaintiff for a writ of habeas corpus. That court determined that the 1978 conviction was based upon a legally defective indictment and could not be used to enhance punishment under Alabama's Habitual Felony Offender Act.
The defendants answered the plaintiff's complaint, denying all of the material allegations and raising the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense. The defendants also filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted by the trial court.
The sole issue presented on appeal is whether the plaintiff's action is time barred.
Initially we should note that a summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact to be resolved by the jury and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56(c), Ala.R.Civ.P. All reasonable doubts concerning the existence of a genuine issue of fact must be resolved against the moving party. Fountain v. Phillips, 404 So.2d 614 (Ala.1981).
Section 6-2-34, Code 1975, provides that "Motions and other actions against attorneys-at-law for ... neglect or omission of duty" must be commenced within six years. Section 6-2-30, Code 1975, requires that "All civil actions must be commenced after the cause of action has accrued within the period prescribed in this article and not afterwards, unless otherwise specifically provided for in this Code."
Chief Justice Torbert, speaking for the Court in Payne v. Alabama Cemetery Ass'n, Inc., 413 So.2d 1067 (Ala.1982), analyzed the Alabama case law relating to the accrual of a cause of action:
In the present case, the plaintiff argues in his brief as follows:
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