Leon C. Williams v. Tim Havas and The Legal Aid Society of Sullivan County, Inc., 104 F.3d 352, 2d Cir. (1996)
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Scribd Government DocsLeon C. Williams v. Tim Havas and The Legal Aid Society of Sullivan County, Inc., 104 F.3d 352, 2d Cir. (1996)
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Scribd Government Docs104 F.
3d 352
NOTICE: THIS SUMMARY ORDER MAY NOT BE CITED
AS PRECEDENTIAL AUTHORITY, BUT MAY BE CALLED
TO THE ATTENTION OF THE COURT IN A SUBSEQUENT
STAGE OF THIS CASE, IN A RELATED CASE, OR IN ANY
CASE FOR PURPOSES OF COLLATERAL ESTOPPEL OR
RES JUDICATA. SEE SECOND CIRCUIT RULE 0.23.
Leon C. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Tim HAVAS and the Legal Aid Society of Sullivan County,
Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
No. 96-7258.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
Oct. 30, 1996.
Leon Williams appeals from a judgment entered on February 21, 1996, in
the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
(Brieant, J.) that dismissed plaintiff Williams's legal malpractice claim by
granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment. Williams
contends that the district court erred in granting summary judgment
because genuine issues of material fact remained as to whether defendant
Tim Havas,1 an attorney who formerly represented Williams, was
negligent. We disagree and affirm the district court.
S.D.N.Y.
AFFIRMED.
Alexander J. Wulwick (New York, NY)
Diane K. Kanca (McDonough Marcus Cohn & Tretter; New York, NY)
Present: MESKILL, CALABRESI, CABRANES, Circuit Judges.
ORDER
The following facts are not disputed. Plaintiff was arrested in Birmingham,
Alabama in August, 1991 on an outstanding felony arrest warrant for "Leon
Williams a/k/a Iceman." The warrant was issued in Sullivan County, New York
for the sale of heroin to an undercover police officer in or about December,
1986. Plaintiff is not Leon Williams the Iceman, although he shares the same
first and last names as that person. Perhaps because their names are the same,
parts of plaintiff Williams's criminal file (for a prior conviction in Sullivan
County) had been mistakenly placed in "Iceman" Williams's file. Thus, when
the New York State Police, who were looking for "Iceman" Williams, sent
Alabama authorities identifying documentation, they actually provided data
(including fingerprints) that belonged to the plaintiff. The plaintiff was
therefore incorrectly identified as "Iceman" Williams by the Alabama
authorities.
The plaintiff waived extradition and was arraigned in Sullivan County on
September 9, 1991. Havas was assigned to represent the plaintiff. Plaintiff was
incarcerated in the Sullivan County jail pending trial and remained there from
September 9, 1991 to about April 10, 1992, when the erroneous identification
was discovered and he was released.
In September, 1991, plaintiff Williams told Havas that he was not "Iceman"
Williams. Later, in mid-October of 1991, Sergeant Ward and Sergeant
Washington of the Sullivan County jail also told Havas that, based on their
prior exposure to both persons, they believed that the plaintiff was not
"Iceman" Williams. They repeated these comments in subsequent conversation
with Havas. Sergeant Ward testified in the course of this litigation, however,
that he had thought that plaintiff Williams might have been using "Iceman"
Williams's name. Havas similarly testified that the sergeants had been in doubt
as to whether the plaintiff had sold the heroin to the undercover agent, and that
he himself had shared that doubt. Havas further testified that he asked the
sergeants to commit their statements to writing, but that they refused.
Havas did not convey the sergeants' statements to the court or the district
attorney at that point. Instead, he attempted to corroborate an alibi defense
raised by the plaintiff. The alibi was intended to show that the plaintiff was in
Alabama at the time of the crime and therefore could not have been the person
who sold the drugs in New York. Havas also sought to obtain the photographs
used to identify plaintiff Williams as "Iceman" Williams, and demanded a
Wade hearing. By April 1992, none of these steps had worked to exonerate the
plaintiff. But in early April, District Attorney Lungren told Havas that he was
95% convinced that plaintiff Williams was not "Iceman" Williams. Havas
testified that he was partly responsible for convincing Lungren; Lungren denied
this. In any event, Lungren requested a "show up" from which it became clear
that the plaintiff was not the one who had sold heroin to the undercover agent.
The plaintiff was thereafter immediately released.
5
The plaintiff then brought this malpractice suit in federal district court on
diversity grounds, alleging that Havas was negligent in not immediately
bringing the sergeants' statements to the attention of the district attorney. He
avers that this negligence prolonged his stay in jail by five or six months. The
district court granted summary judgment for Havas, finding that while Havas
may have made an erroneous judgment call, "[t]he exercise of honest legal
judgment may not be tested by hindsight." On appeal, Williams contends that
the district court erred in granting Havas's motion for summary judgment.
We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Moller v.
North Shore Univ. Hosp., 12 F.3d 13, 15 (2d Cir.1993). Summary judgment
may be granted only if the movant can establish "that there is no genuine issue
as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a
matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see Cronin v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., 46 F.3d
196, 202 (2d Cir.1995). However, "the mere existence of some alleged factual
dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported
motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine
issue of material fact." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48
(1986).
To prevail in a legal malpractice suit under New York State law, the plaintiff
must show that the defendant attorney was negligent. See Fidler v. Sullivan, 93
A.D.2d 964, 964, 463 N.Y.S.2d 279, 280 (N.Y.A.D.3d Dept.1983) (citations
omitted). To prove negligence, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the attorney's
conduct "fell below the ordinary and reasonable skill and knowledge commonly
possessed by a member of his profession." Grago v. Robertson, 49 A.D.2d 645,
646, 370 N.Y.S.2d 255, 258 (N.Y.A.D.3d Dept.1975). Most important, the
attorney "is not held to the rule of infallibility and is not liable for an honest
mistake of judgment where the proper course is open to reasonable doubt." Id.
The choice "among several reasonable courses of action does not constitute
malpractice." Rosner v. Paley, 65 N.Y.2d 736, 738, 492 N.Y.S.2d 13, 14
(1985).
On the undisputed facts, it is clear that Havas did not commit malpractice.
Havas vigorously pursued his client's alibi defense, attempted to obtain the
photographs used to identify his client, and sought a Wade hearing. He chose to
pursue this course rather than the course of bringing the sergeants' testimony to
the attention of the district attorney. In hindsight it seems that he most likely
made the wrong decision. However, the fact that plaintiff's fingerprints
matched the ones in "Iceman" Williams's file, as well as Sergeant Ward's
uncertainty about whether the plaintiff was using "Iceman" Williams's street
name as an alias, support the conclusion that "the proper course of action [was]
open to reasonable doubt." Grago, 49 A.D.2d at 646. Havas could have
reasonably believed that the most promising way to win plaintiff Williams's
release was to get other evidence that the plaintiff could not have been the New
York perpetrator and that he should arm himself with such evidence before he
brought the additional doubts of Sergeants Washington and Ward to the
attention of the district attorney. Havas's judgment call therefore did not sink to
the level of malpractice.
9
Plaintiff nevertheless claims that there were three disputed issues of material
fact. First, the plaintiff contests Havas's claim that Havas asked Ward and
Washington to put their belief that the plaintiff was not "Iceman" Williams into
writing. Second, the plaintiff disputes that Havas believed that the plaintiff had
sold heroin to the undercover officer (under the alias of "Iceman" or otherwise).
Finally, he challenges Havas's statement that Havas played a role in ultimately
bringing the sergeants' testimony regarding mistaken identity to the attention of
the district attorney. Each contention raises a genuine dispute about the facts.
None of these factual issues, however, is material, because even if all of them
were resolved in the plaintiff's favor, they would not undermine the proposition
that Havas made a legitimate judgment call between two viable courses of
action. The district court thus properly granted summary judgment.
10
We have examined all of the defendant's contentions, and find them to be
without merit. The district court's judgment is therefore affirmed.
Havas's employer, the Legal Aid Society of Sullivan County, is also a named
defendant. Because the Legal Aid Society's liability is predicated solely on
Havas's actions, we follow the plaintiff's practice of referring to Havas as
though he were the only defendant-appellee
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