Opinion ID: 200189
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Trial Court's Rejection of Defendants' Proposed Jury Instructions

Text: 53 Biddle also argues that the court erred by declining to give appellant's proposed jury instructions. Those instructions would have further defined an attorney client relationship in light of Sheinkopf v. Stone, 927 F.2d 1259 (1st Cir.1991). 54 Specifically, the defendants requested that the court advise the jury that the representation must have been sought directly by Murray (Jury Instruction No. 2); that there are a number of factors that are important to determining whether an attorney/client relationship exists (No. 3); that the client's subjective unspoken belief that an attorney was representing him is insufficient to create an attorney-client relationship (No. 4); that a client's belief must be objectively reasonable (No. 5); that the attorney must be aware that the putative client was in fact relying on the attorneys for legal counsel (No. 6); and that if a person such as Murray were regularly obtaining legal assistance from others, then it is a reasonable assumption on the part of the defendants that Murray was receiving legal assistance about his business activities from other counsel and not from the defendants (No. 7). 55 A refusal to give a particular instruction constitutes reversible error only if the requested instruction was (1) correct as a matter of substantive law, (2) not substantially incorporated into the charge as rendered, and (3) integral to an important point in the case. Elliott v. S.D. Warren Co., 134 F.3d 1, 6 (1st Cir.1998). The district court should refuse a request for an instruction that states a legal holding which is not applicable to the facts, even if it is otherwise correct. See 9A C.A. Wright & A.R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2552 (2d ed.2002). We find no error. The substance of many of the requests was in fact given and some had the potential to mislead. For example, the substance of Requests Nos. 2 and 5 was given, Request No. 2 was misleading, and Request No. 3 was given in the sense that the jury was told to decide the issue on all of the facts. Request No. 4 was misleading in that an attorney-client relationship may be implied, and Request No. 6 was misleading in that it eliminated the should have known portion of the test. Request No. 7 is closer, but it was within the discretion of the trial judge to decide that under Maine law one factor should not be emphasized over others. 56 As the district court noted, Sheinkopf 's fact pattern is dissimilar from the one at issue in this case. In Sheinkopf, the plaintiff sued an attorney's law firm after the joint venture in which both men had invested turned sour. 927 F.2d at 1260-61, 1264-65. The case did not involve a power of attorney. 6 Biddle sought an instruction that more is required than an individual's subjective belief that the person with whom he was dealing was his lawyer; the belief, Biddle contended, must be objectively reasonable (No. 5). This request derives from the portion of Sheinkopf where the court explains that no reasonable person could have objectively believed, on the facts of that case, that an attorney-client relationship was created. The district court was well within its discretion in finding that the facts of the present case did not warrant that specific instruction, where it had already instructed that the jury should consider all the facts and circumstances and that the lawyers must have expressly or impliedly agreed to the representation. Sheinkopf did not create a set of one-size-fits-all jury instructions. 57 The verdict is affirmed. Costs are awarded against defendants.