Can someone sue a defense lawyer in civil court?
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at
7:26 pm
let’s say Person A commits a crime and admits it to their lawyer but then Person B is arrested and charged with the crime. If months or years later it comes out that Person B was innocent and they prove the lawyer for Person A knew the truth and they sue the lawyer in civil court?
altho any one can sue anoone at any time for any reason, the problem is getting an atty to represent you and a judge to hear the case. in this case, i’d say you’re barking up a dead tree…
Person B may sue, of course, but would not win.
The lawyer for Person A has an obligation not to divulge information provided in the confidential communication between client and attorney. The lawyer should not disclose any information to anyone that would be detrimental to his or her client. Some exceptions may include information the lawyer has about his client’s involvement in an ongoing crime (e.g., client holding a hidden kidnap victim) or a planned crime (e.g., conspiracy to extort or to defraud).
The purpose is to assure that there is completely open communication between attorney and client.
Person B’s attorney needs to require the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. If Person B is innocent, that should be impossible.
You can try.
However, an attorney has a legal obligation to keep his relationship with his client private no matter how compelling evidence against his client may be, or even when his client he is defending confesses to a crime he is being charged with.
Most clients whom defense attorneys represent are guilty. Defense attorneys make their money finding loopholes and technicalities in the law in order to free guilty men, knowing they are guilty.
Sure you can. The difficult part is going to be finding an attorney that will represent you in your suit against a colleague.