Lorna Doone Watch
10-24-2004, 09:02 PM
* Seems like pro se plaintiff Thomas F. Liotti, Esq. won the first round. Who will prevail in the end?
NY Judge Keeps Suit Over Low Attorney Pay Alive
New York Lawyer
September 29, 2004
By Andrew Harris
New York Law Journal
MINEOLA — A federal judge has declined to dismiss a claim that the fees paid to criminal defense lawyers serving on assigned-counsel panels are so small that they violate the constitutional rights of the attorneys themselves.
In the same ruling, Eastern District Judge Joanna Seybert threw out three other constitutional claims, including the allegation that the fees were too low to provide effective assistance of counsel to criminal defendants.
The decision came in a case filed in 2000, three years before the state Legislature increased hourly court-appearance rates to $75 from $40. Making no mention of the increase, Judge Seybert sustained a claim that the state-mandated fee structure interferes with attorneys' Fourteenth Amendment right to pursue their chosen avocation.
Having staved off dismissal, the pro se plaintiff must now prove that claim at trial.
In light of the increase, which took effect Jan. 1, criminal defense lawyers familiar with the Sept. 15 ruling in Liotti v. Nassau County, No. 00-CV-0225, agreed with it in principle but expressed doubt that the case could be proven at trial.
And defending against the lawsuit, Nassau County Attorney Lorna Goodman flatly rejected the notion that it might succeed.
"We don't think it can fly on its merits," she said.
NY Judge Keeps Suit Over Low Attorney Pay Alive
New York Lawyer
September 29, 2004
By Andrew Harris
New York Law Journal
MINEOLA — A federal judge has declined to dismiss a claim that the fees paid to criminal defense lawyers serving on assigned-counsel panels are so small that they violate the constitutional rights of the attorneys themselves.
In the same ruling, Eastern District Judge Joanna Seybert threw out three other constitutional claims, including the allegation that the fees were too low to provide effective assistance of counsel to criminal defendants.
The decision came in a case filed in 2000, three years before the state Legislature increased hourly court-appearance rates to $75 from $40. Making no mention of the increase, Judge Seybert sustained a claim that the state-mandated fee structure interferes with attorneys' Fourteenth Amendment right to pursue their chosen avocation.
Having staved off dismissal, the pro se plaintiff must now prove that claim at trial.
In light of the increase, which took effect Jan. 1, criminal defense lawyers familiar with the Sept. 15 ruling in Liotti v. Nassau County, No. 00-CV-0225, agreed with it in principle but expressed doubt that the case could be proven at trial.
And defending against the lawsuit, Nassau County Attorney Lorna Goodman flatly rejected the notion that it might succeed.
"We don't think it can fly on its merits," she said.