12-31-07 A-5527-05T2
In this appeal, the court considered when a plaintiff's
malpractice action against his criminal defense attorney accrues
and whether -- as held by other jurisdictions -- the accrual
date is impacted by whether a plaintiff is actually innocent of
or has been exonerated from the underlying criminal charges.
Because these additional elements tend to produce unpredictable
and undesirable results, the court rejected their inclusion into
an accrual standard. However, because the results of postconviction
proceedings may be fatal to or otherwise impact upon
the presentation of a criminal malpractice action, the court
held that hereafter plaintiffs must commence at the same time,
if they have not already done so, post-conviction proceedings in
the criminal matter, and that trial courts freely stay criminal
malpractice actions until the underlying criminal proceedings
reach a logical conclusion.
Judge Stern filed a dissenting opinion.
