Opinion ID: 2317313
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: did defendant's affidavit and answers to interrogatories raise a genuine issue of material fact?

Text: As already indicated, defendant in his affidavit did not deny or even discuss the act or acts underlying his plea of guilty to the charge of third-degree sexual assault or his conviction thereof. He merely stated that the plea of guilty had been induced by a plea bargain. The defendant argues that his answer under oath to an interrogatory propounded by plaintiffs does raise an issue of fact. This interrogatory and the answer thereto were as follows: Q. 2. Set forth with particularity the facts, including times and dates, comprising the alleged incident complained of by the plaintiff. A. 2. I cannot set forth the fact, times and dates comprising the incident complained of by the plaintiff because it never happened. The interrogatory and the answer thereto must be considered and evaluated in light of the fact that plaintiffs' complaint alleged numerous acts on the part of defendant and that not all of these acts constituted the crime of third-degree sexual assault. The interrogatory in effect was a grab bag question to which a sweeping general denial was asserted. We held in Ludwig v. Kowal, R.I., 419 A.2d 297, 303 (1980), that a plea of guilty in a prior criminal proceeding is competent evidence in a subsequent civil action as an admission of each element of the formal criminal charge. Plunkett v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 465 F.2d 299, 305 (7th Cir.1972); Estate of Upshaw v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 416 F.2d 737, 741 (7th Cir.1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 962, 90 S.Ct. 993, 25 L.Ed.2d 254 (1970); Silverman v. Abraham, 22 Misc.2d 707, 708-09, 198 N.Y.S.2d 514, 516-17 (1960); 3 Wharton's Criminal Evidence § 654A (Torcia 13th ed. 1973). See Rotenberg, The Progress of Plea Bargaining: The ABA Standards and Beyond, 8 Conn. L.Rev. 44, 51 (1975). Courts that have considered the question are virtually unanimous in admitting pleas of guilty as evidence in subsequent civil cases since such a plea is, in essence, a solemn judicial admission. See Annot., 18 A.L.R.2d 1287 (1951); Vestal & Coughenour, Preclusion/Res Judicata Variables: Criminal Prosecutions, 19 Vand.L.Rev. 683, 705 (1966); see also Bond, Plea Bargaining and Guilty Pleas § 7.26 (1978). We went on to state that although a bargained guilty plea might be subject to explanation, at the very least the setting forth of such a plea and conviction required a sworn factual rebuttal by the defendant. In that case, as in the case at bar, the defendant did not supply such a rebuttal. In Ludwig v. Kowal the defendant made some vague denials that we did not consider adequate. Similarly, the counteraffidavit in the case at bar did not demonstrate evidence of a substantial nature to dispute the material issues of fact set forth by plaintiffs. See Gallo v. National Nursing Homes, Inc., 106 R.I. 485, 488-89, 261 A.2d 19, 21-22 (1970); accord O'Brion, Russell & Co. v. LeMay, 370 Mass. 243, 346 N.E.2d 861 (1976). When one is convicted on a plea of guilty of a criminal charge directly related to and involving the same act or transaction that may be the subject of a civil action, one may not avoid the consequences of a motion for partial summary judgment by conclusory statements and arguments. We recognize that convictions of a criminal offense may not have a preclusive effect upon factual issues in a subsequent civil action save for the widely recognized exception wherein a criminal in a subsequent civil case seeks to profit from his own wrong. Morin v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., R.I., 478 A.2d 964 (1984). The current trend among courts that have recently considered the question is at least to allow a conviction based upon a plea of guilty to be admitted in a civil action for proof of the underlying facts. Following the lead of Schindler v. Royal Insurance Co., 258 N.Y. 310, 179 N.E. 711 (1932), several courts in recent years have admitted criminal convictions for proof of the matter asserted in civil actions, even when not predicated upon a plea of guilty. See, e.g., Asato v. Furtado, 52 Haw. 284, 289, 474 P.2d 288, 293 (1970); Weichhand v. Garlinger, 447 S.W.2d 606 (Ky. 1969); McCormick's Handbook of the Law of Evidence, § 318 at 738-41 (Cleary 2d ed. 1972). Older cases that tended to exclude such convictions were frequently based upon the lack-of-mutuality theory predicated upon the general rule that prevented an acquittal from being introduced into evidence. This theory has little or no persuasive force. Obviously an acquittal would not be evidence of innocence but only evidence that the state had failed to meet the requisite burden of proof. Some courts excluded criminal convictions because of the then-prevailing notion that criminal convictions were inherently suspect. See McCormick, supra. If such a theory was ever justified, developments in procedural safeguards surrounding criminal trials in the last twenty years have deprived it of any rational basis today. Probably no trial or proceeding has accorded a party more rights, both substantive and procedural, than are bestowed upon a defendant in a criminal case in the United States at this point in its history. Consequently, a person who has been convicted of a criminal offense must, in answer to a motion for summary judgment based on such conviction, do more than suggest the possibility that facts may be in issue that would rebut the conclusion to be drawn from such conviction. In the case at bar, the defendant presented no such facts. His general denial to interrogatory No. 2 that the incident never took place may create an issue in a technical sense but not a genuine issue of material fact. The victim, now a civil litigant, is entitled to more than what amounts to a general denial under oath. See Ludwig, 419 A.2d at 301.