Legal Malpractice Claims Against Public Defenders Subject to Tort Claims Act, Justices Rule | New Jersey Law Journal

A man wrongly imprisoned for twelve years in a New Jersey sexual assault case was denied recovery in his legal malpractice action against a public defender by the state's Supreme Court today in Chaparro-Nieves v. Office of the Public Defender.

The court ruled that because Antonio Chaparro Nieves  reported no psychiatric or other medical treatment he failed to qualify under the state's tort claims act which sets a $3,00 minimum threshold for "emotional" harm cases.  Only Associate Justice Barry Albin parted ways - arguing that a claim for compensation for loss of liberty should not be "conflated" with one for emotional distress.

I argued for the New Jersey State Bar Association that the part-time lawyers in private practice hired as "trial pool" attorneys by the state's Office of the Public Defender are entitled to defense and indemnification by the state in legal malpractice cases.

Nieves did, however, receive compensation under the state's Mistaken Conviction Compensation Act which caps damages for lost liberty at $50,000 per year or twice their salary in the year preceding imprisonment.

If there is a silver lining in the case it is that pool attorneys - almost invariably solo practitioners working for a very modest fee set by state law - will not be faced with burdensome professional liability insurance premiums for undertaking such work.  And in cases such as Nieves in the future the rather modest financial threshold will normally be overcome.  Under the Tort Claims Act NJSA 59:1-1 there is no cap on damages. - GWC

Legal Malpractice Claims Against Public Defenders Subject to Tort Claims Act, Justices Rule | New Jersey Law Journal: The ruling means anyone wishing to sue the public defender for legal malpractice must comply with the strict timetable of the TCA.

"Attorneys serving under the public defender, whether full-time staff attorneys or contracted pool attorneys, meet the definition of an OPD employee for TCA purposes, and have been treated as public employees in previous cases, Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote for the court. The OPD is an office within the executive branch, whose head is appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the state Senate, LaVecchia said. It relies on state funding appropriated through the annual state budget."