Negligence : Legal Malpractice - Criminal Defense

Stephanie Maniscalco//July 20, 2013//

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Where a client who filed a legal malpractice action against her criminal defense attorney did not allege that she was actually innocent of the charges against her, actual innocence is an essential element of her claim, and her claim was barred by collateral estoppel since her convictions for assault and kidnapping had not been set aside.

Exoneration rule

Concurring opinion by Scott, J. “The exoneration rule bars Goodman’s claim, not factually, but based on public policy. Goodman cannot prevail in the absence of actual innocence because her ‘own illegal actions would be the full legal and proximate cause of [her] damages.’”

Judgment is affirmed.

Goodman v. Wampler (MLW No. 65243/Case No. SD31611 – 15 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Bates, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Greene County, McBeth, J. (Danieal Howard Miller, Columbia, for appellant) (Thomas D. Carver, Springfield, for respondent).

Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)