Opinion ID: 776874
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Actual Conflict

Text: 111 An attorney has an actual, as opposed to a potential, conflict of interest when, during the course of the representation, the attorney's and defendant's interests diverge with respect to a material factual or legal issue or to a course of action. Winkler v. Keane, 7 F.3d 304, 307 (2d Cir.1993) (internal quotation marks omitted). Schwarz argues that an actual conflict of interest was created when the Worth firm entered into the PBA retainer. 112 We need not decide whether the PBA retainer itself created an actual conflict of interest with respect to Worth's representation of Schwarz at trial because we find that even if the conflict at the time the PBA retainer was signed could be categorized as only a potential conflict, it became an actual conflict after the Louima civil suit was filed. As we will explain more fully, the PBA's interests in defending against the civil lawsuit, which alleged that the PBA, through its agents, and the PBA's president, Matarazzo, participated in a conspiracy to injure Louima and cover it up, diverged from Schwarz's interests in putting on a defense that would implicate anyone other than Volpe as participating in the assault in the bathroom. While the Worth firm had been barred by the district court from formally representing the PBA or any of its members in the Louima civil suit, Worth nevertheless had an unalloyed duty to the PBA as his client to refrain from any conduct injurious to its interests. Moreover, because the Worth firm's retainer agreement with the PBA provided that (a) a portion of the $10 million retainer (which was otherwise payable in equal monthly installments) would be held back and paid quarterly to ensure the PBA's satisfaction with the Worth firm's performance and (b) the PBA could unilaterally cancel the contract upon thirty days' notice, and because Worth could expect that satisfaction with the firm's performance would result in a renewal of the retainer upon its expiration, Worth had a strong personal interest in refraining from any conduct to which the PBA might object. 113 Because Louima had consistently maintained that he was assaulted in the bathroom by at least two officers, Schwarz had an obvious strategic interest in implicating another officer in the bathroom assault from the moment he was charged with that crime. As further discussed below, that interest became stronger during the course of his trial. Such a defense, however, could have hampered the PBA in its defense of the Louima civil suit. As a result, Worth faced an actual conflict between his representation of Schwarz, on the one hand, and both his professional obligation to the PBA and his self interest, on the other. 114