Noske v. Friedberg, C7-02-1073.

• Decision Date: 06 November 2003
• Docket Number: No. C7-02-1073.,C7-02-1073.
• Citation: 670 N.W.2d 740
• Parties: James L. NOSKE, Respondent, v. Joseph FRIEDBERG, et al., Petitioners, Appellants.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

670 N.W.2d 740

James L. NOSKE, Respondent, v. Joseph FRIEDBERG, et al., Petitioners, Appellants.

No. C7-02-1073.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

November 6, 2003.

Lawrence H. Crosby, Jay D. Olson, Crosby & Associates, St. Paul, MN, for Respondent.

Paul C. Peterson, William L. Davidson, Lind, Jensen, Sullivan & Peterson, P.A., Minneapolis, MN, for Appellants.

Deborah Ellis, St. Paul, MN, Peter W. Gorman, Minneapolis, MN, for Amicus Curiae Minnesota Ass'n of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

PAGE, Justice.

In 2001, respondent James Noske commenced an action against appellant Joseph Friedberg for attorney malpractice arising out of Friedberg's representation of Noske at Noske's 1990 criminal trial for second-degree assault. The district court dismissed the action, finding that the six-year statute of limitations for bringing an attorney malpractice claim had run. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that Noske's cause of action did not accrue until he was granted habeas corpus relief by the federal district court in 1999. We affirm the court of appeals.

In July of 1989, Noske was arrested and charged with five counts of second-degree assault after he fired a gun in the air and then pointed it at his neighbors. Noske hired Friedberg to represent him. According to Noske, in selecting defense counsel, it was important that the person who represented him be willing to proceed on a theory of self-defense. Noske and Friedberg discussed pursuing a self-defense theory on a number of occasions, but Friedberg never pursued such a theory. Ultimately, the jury convicted Noske of one count of second-degree assault and acquitted him of the other charges.

Noske petitioned for postconviction relief in district court alleging, among other things, that he had been denied effective assistance of counsel because of Friedberg's failure to pursue self-defense as a defense to the assault charges. The postconviction court denied the petition. Noske then appealed his conviction and sentence, as well as the denial of postconviction relief to the court of appeals. In an unpublished decision, the court of appeals affirmed the lower court in all respects. This court subsequently denied review. See Noske v. State, No. C0-91-2486, 1992 WL 365990 (Minn.App. Dec. 15, 1992), rev. denied (Minn. Jan. 28, 1993).

Noske was imprisoned on March 5, 1993, and was released from custody and placed on supervised release on January 27, 1995. On May 25, 1993, Noske petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court seeking to have his conviction overturned and to be released from supervised release based on his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at his state court trial. In January of 1999, the federal district court found that Noske had been denied effective assistance of counsel, granted Noske's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and vacated his assault conviction. Noske v. Stender, Civil No. 4-93-518, slip op. at 22-23 (D.Minn. Jan. 7, 1999) (Memorandum Opinion and Order). In its order granting Noske's petition, the federal district court ordered that Noske could be retried on the assault charge within 90 days of the order, but the state chose not to do so. Id.

By complaint dated September 13, 2001, Noske commenced a legal malpractice action against Friedberg and his law firm in Hennepin County District Court based on Friedberg's alleged ineffective assistance at the 1990 trial. Friedberg moved for dismissal of the malpractice action, contending that it was barred by the applicable six-year statute of limitations found in Minn.Stat. § 541.05, subd. 1(5) (2002). The district court agreed with Friedberg and dismissed Noske's complaint. The district court reasoned that the alleged malpractice occurred during the 1990 criminal trial and that Noske suffered damages upon his conviction and subsequent incarceration, all of which occurred more than six years before his legal malpractice action commenced. On appeal, the court of appeals reversed, concluding that Noske's legal malpractice cause of action did not accrue and the statute of limitations did not begin to run until 1999, when he obtained relief from his conviction in federal court. Noske v. Friedberg, 656 N.W.2d 409, 416 (Minn.App.2003).

The issue we must decide is whether a legal malpractice action against a criminal defense attorney based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the plaintiff's underlying criminal trial accrues at the time of the plaintiff's conviction or when postconviction relief is subsequently granted. If we conclude that his cause of action accrued at the time postconviction relief was granted, Noske asks that we also decide whether he may use the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel determination to collaterally estop Friedberg from litigating the issue of negligence in the legal malpractice action.

"The construction and applicability of statutes of limitations are questions of law that this court reviews de novo." Benigni v. County of St. Louis, 585 N.W.2d 51, 54 (Minn.1998). "The statute of limitations for a legal malpractice action is six years." Herrmann v. McMenomy & Severson, 590 N.W.2d 641, 643 (Minn.1999) (citing Minn.Stat. § 541.05, subd. 1(5)). "A cause of action accrues and the statute of limitations begins to run when the cause of action will survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Id. The showing a plaintiff must make in order to survive a motion to dismiss under Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e) is minimal. The plaintiff need only allege sufficient facts to state a claim. In a legal malpractice action, the facts a plaintiff must allege in order to state a claim are: "(1) the existence of an attorney-client relationship; (2) acts constituting negligence or breach of contract; (3) that such acts were the proximate cause of the plaintiff's damages; (4) that but for defendant's conduct the plaintiff would have been successful in the prosecution or defense of the action." Blue Water Corp. v. O'Toole, 336 N.W.2d 279, 281 (Minn. 1983). Failure to establish any one of these elements defeats the entire claim. Godbout v. Norton, 262 N.W.2d 374, 376 (Minn.1977),appeal dismissed, 437 U.S. 901, 98 S.Ct. 3086, 57 L.Ed.2d 1131 (1978). That is to say, with respect to any element, if it is not "`possible on any evidence which might be produced, consistent with the pleader's theory, to grant the relief demanded,'" the claim will be dismissed. Martens v. Minn. Mining & Mfg. Co., 616 N.W.2d 732, 739-40 (Minn.2000) (quoting N. States Power Co. v. Franklin, 265 Minn. 391, 395, 122 N.W.2d 26, 29 (1963)).

Noting that Noske's lawsuit was filed almost 11 years after his conviction, Friedberg argues that the court of appeals erred in reversing the dismissal of the lawsuit. Citing Herrmann, Friedberg contends that Noske's cause of action accrued at the time of his conviction because it was at that point that Noske would have suffered damages as a result of the alleged ineffective assistance of counsel.¹ See Herrmann, 590 N.W.2d at 643

. Further, Friedberg argues that Noske's lawsuit could have survived a Rule 12.02(e) motion to dismiss had the lawsuit been brought within six years of his 1990 conviction, even though Noske had not obtained postconviction relief, because each of the elements required for a plaintiff to bring a legal malpractice claim existed upon his conviction. Friedberg, however, does not dispute that for Noske to prevail on his claim his conviction would have to be vacated. Instead, Friedberg argues that Noske's cause of action could survive a motion to dismiss under Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e) as long as there is a possibility that Noske could obtain relief from his conviction, even if the cause of action could not withstand summary judgment. Recognizing that Noske might not have been able to survive a summary judgment motion absent postconviction relief, Friedberg suggests that Noske could have commenced the malpractice action, then sought to have the proceedings stayed until his postconviction claims were resolved. Friedberg also argues that to hold that the statute of limitations does not begin to run until postconviction relief is obtained would be inconsistent with our decision in Weston v. Jones, 160 Minn. 32, 37, 199 N.W. 431, 433 (1924), a case in which we held that a plaintiff's lack of knowledge of a cause of action will not suspend the running of the statute of limitations. Finally, Friedberg argues that delaying the accrual of the malpractice claim until postconviction relief from the underlying conviction is obtained will permit stale claims to go forward, make it difficult for criminal defense attorneys to defend themselves, and result in criminal defense attorneys being treated differently from all other attorneys sued for malpractice.

In response, Noske argues that his criminal conviction precluded him from arguing that Friedberg's ineffective assistance at his criminal trial was the proximate cause of his alleged damages, or that but for Friedberg's conduct he would not have been convicted. Therefore, until he obtained postconviction relief and had that conviction set aside, a legal malpractice action against Friedberg would not have been able to survive a motion to dismiss. He also makes a policy argument that an individual should not be allowed to challenge the validity of a criminal conviction in a civil malpractice action.

We have held that a person convicted of a crime may not attack a valid criminal conviction in a subsequent civil proceeding.² Travelers Ins. Co. v. Thompson, 281 Minn. 547, 555, 163 N.W.2d 289, 294 (1968). In Travelers, we concluded that an individual who had been convicted of murdering his wife was collaterally estopped from relitigating the issue of his guilt in a civil proceeding to obtain the proceeds of his wife's life insurance. Id. at 558-59, 163 N.W.2d at 296. In doing so, we...