Shubert v. Ada Cnty.
| Decision Date | 12 March 2020 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 46403 |
| Citation | 166 Idaho 458,461 P.3d 740 |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
| Parties | Natalie SHUBERT, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. ADA COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Idaho; Alan Trimming, an employee of Ada County in his personal/individual and official capacities as the Ada County Public Defender; Michael Warren Lojek, an employee of Ada County in his personal/individual and official capacities as Deputy Ada County Public Defender, Defendants-Appellants, and John and Jane Does I to XX, whose true identities are unknown, Defendants. |
Jan M. Bennetts, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney, Boise, for appellants. Catherine Freeman argued.
Seiniger Law, Boise and Giles & Thompson Law, PLLC, Boise, for respondent. Breck Seiniger argued.
Rainey Law Office, Boise, amicus curiae brief for Idaho Trial Lawyers Association Foundation.
Michael Kane & Associates, PLLC, Boise, amicus curiae brief for Idaho Association of Counties.
Lawrence G. Wasden, Idaho Attorney General, Boise, for Public Defense Commission.
SUBSTITUTE OPINION. THE COURT'S PRIOR OPINION DATED FEBRUARY 12, 2020 IS HEREBY WITHDRAWN.
This case arises from Natalie Shubert's negligence claim against her former public defender, Michael Lojek, former Ada County chief public defender Alan Trimming, and Ada County (collectively the "Ada County Defendants"). In 2008, Shubert was charged with two felonies and pleaded guilty to both charges. Her sentences were suspended in each case, and she was placed on probation. After a probation violation in 2011, the Ada County district court entered an order extending Shubert's probation beyond the time period allowed by law. The mistake was not caught. After Shubert's probation should have ended in both cases, she was charged and incarcerated for a subsequent probation violation in 2014. Thereafter, in 2016, Shubert was charged with a new probation violation. Shubert was assigned a new public defender, who discovered the error that unlawfully kept Shubert on probation. Shubert's new public defender filed a motion to correct the illegal sentence, raising the error that had improperly extended her probation. The district court granted Shubert's motion to correct the illegal sentence and released Shubert from custody. Shubert then sued her original public defender, the Ada County Public Defender's Officer, and other unknown Ada County employees alleging false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence per se, negligence, and state and federal constitutional violations.
The district court dismissed all of Shubert's claims except for negligence. In denying the Ada County Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Shubert's negligence claim, the district court held that public defenders are not entitled to common law quasi-judicial immunity from civil malpractice liability, and two provisions of the Idaho Tort Claims Act (ITCA) do not exempt public defenders from civil malpractice liability. The Ada County Defendants bring this permissive appeal under Idaho Appellate Rule 12. We affirm the district court's order denying summary judgment and remand the case to the district court for further proceedings.
In 2008, Shubert was appointed a public defender after being charged in two separate Ada County criminal cases. She was charged with grand theft in Ada County Case No. CR-MD-2008-0601 (GT-601). She was charged with a felony for writing checks with insufficient funds in Ada County Case No. CR-MD-2008-2880 (NSF-2880). Ada County district court judge Patrick Owen presided over both cases.
In November 2008, Shubert signed a "Guilty Plea Advisory" form for both GT-601 and NSF-2880. Shubert wrote on that form that the maximum sentence for the GT-601 case was "14 years max" and the maximum sentence for the NSF-2880 case was "3 years max." Shubert also signed an acknowledgement on that form that her guilty plea was the result of a plea agreement. Shubert also wrote on the form her understanding of the plea agreement as "2+4=6 probation up to 120 days in [j]ail" and "concurrent - 2+1=3 up to 120 days in [j]ail[.]"
Shubert alleges that Ada County deputy public defender Michael Lojek represented her from the time she was charged in GT-601 and NSF-2880 through 2016. However, the record indicates that Ada County deputy public defender Eric Rolfson signed her initial "Guilty Plea Advisory" form in 2008. Lojek does not dispute that he represented Shubert in GT-601 and NSF-2880, and began appearing with Shubert in court in 2011.
On February 27, 2009, Shubert appeared in front of Judge Owen for sentencing in both cases. In GT-601, the district court sentenced Shubert to six years in prison, with the first two years fixed. The district court then suspended Shubert's sentence and placed her on probation for six years, expiring at midnight on February 26, 2015. In NSF-2880, the district court sentenced Shubert to three years in prison with the first two years fixed, to be served concurrently with her GT-601 sentence. Like in GT-601, the district court suspended Shubert's sentence in NSF-2880 and placed her on probation for three years, expiring on February 26, 2012. The district court subsequently entered a Judgment of Conviction, Suspended Sentence, Order of Probation and Commitment in the NSF-2880 case. Shubert signed the bottom of the document after a certification statement which read:
This is to certify that I have read or had read to me and fully understand and accept all the conditions, regulations and restrictions under which I am being granted probation. I will abide by and conform to them strictly and fully understand that my failure to do so may result in the revocation of my probation and commitment to the Board of Correction to serve the sentence originally imposed.
On February 1, 2011, Ada County prosecutors filed a motion for a bench warrant and a probation violation in both GT-601 and NSF-2880, alleging Shubert violated the terms of her probation. An arrest warrant was issued on February 7, 2011, and Shubert was subsequently arrested on March 29, 2011. Shubert later admitted to the alleged probation violations. Judge Owen held a disposition hearing regarding Shubert's probation violations on May 20, 2011. Lojek appeared as Shubert's public defender at the hearing. On May 25, 2011, Judge Owen issued an order reinstating and amending probation in both GT-601 and NSF-2880. The orders contained an express finding that Shubert willfully and knowingly violated the terms of her probation. The orders also reinstated her probation upon the same terms and conditions originally entered but amended probation to impose a 120 day sentence in Ada County Jail with 54 days credited for time served. In issuing these orders, Judge Owen did not extend the length of probation in either of Shubert's cases. However, the orders mistakenly provided that Shubert's probation would now expire at midnight on May 19, 2017.
At a March 2016 hearing, Judge Owen clarified that this order was a mistake, and that any orders extending probation beyond February 26, 2012 in NSF-2880—the case that ultimately led to her unlawful incarceration—was entered illegally. Despite the mistaken probation end date, Shubert signed a certification accepting her probation on June 13, 2011. In a declaration, Shubert maintains that she does not recall seeing a copy of either of the mistaken orders from May 2011.
Further, Shubert asserts that Lojek did not inform her that her probation was extended or set to expire at midnight on May 19, 2017, in the order reinstating and amending her probation.
The record is not clear on exactly when Shubert's probation was supposed to end in NSF-2880. The record suggests two possible end dates: February 26, 2012, or February 2, 2013. Regardless, as a result of the mistaken May 2011 order, Shubert remained on probation in NSF-2880 and GT-601 into 2013.
On January 4, 2013, new allegations of probation violations were filed against Shubert in both GT-601 and NSF-2880. Shubert admitted to the violations, and appeared before Judge Owen again for a hearing on April 3, 2013, with Lojek as her attorney. Following the hearing, Judge Owen entered orders revoking probation, imposing sentence, and retaining jurisdiction in both cases. Based on the orders, Shubert entered Idaho's "rider program."
After participating in the rider program, Shubert appeared before Judge Owen for a rider review hearing on September 11, 2013. Shubert appeared with Lojek as her attorney. Judge Owen subsequently issued orders reinstating Shubert's probation in both GT-601 and NSF-2880. Specifically, in an order issued on September 17, 2013, for NSF-2880, Judge Owen provided that Shubert's probation now expired on September 10, 2016. Separately, in GT-601, Judge Owen entered an order reinstating probation after the period of retained jurisdiction on December 5, 2013. The order provided that Shubert's probation expired on February 26, 2015.
New probation violation allegations were filed against Shubert on February 18, 2014, however, these allegations, were only filed in Shubert's GT-601 case. After admitting to probation violations, Shubert again appeared in front of Judge Owen for a disposition hearing on April 2, 2014. Shubert again appeared with Lojek as her attorney. At the hearing, Judge Owen stated that the "only reason you're not here on this other case [referring to NSF-2880] is that you only had three years of probation on that other case[.]" Judge Owen further stated:
I am not going to reinstate you to probation. I don't think that's going to work. I am not going to send you to prison. I can't see any reason to do that, considering that you've already spent a year in jail...
To continue reading
Request your trial