Opinion ID: 382677
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Private Attorneys' Liability Under Section 1983.

Text: 12 10. Next we must determine whether Henderson has stated a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against his attorneys. Once again we must decide whether the state action requirement of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is satisfied and determine whether the attorneys are persons who act under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage of any State or Territory. 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 13 11. Although states license lawyers to practice, and although lawyers are deemed officers of the court, this is an insufficient basis for concluding that lawyers act under color of state law for the purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 cannot be predicated solely on the state's licensing of attorneys. Participation in a highly regulated profession does not convert a lawyer's every action into an act of the State or an act under color of state law. Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 419 U.S. 345, 355, 95 S.Ct. 449, 455, 42 L.Ed.2d 477 (1974). 14 12. Nor does Cuyler v. Sullivan, --- U.S. ----, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (May 12, 1980) require a finding of state action. In Sullivan, the Supreme Court held that the failure of privately retained attorneys to render effective assistance of counsel at trial involves state action that is susceptible to federal habeas corpus review. But in Sullivan, although the acts of the attorneys were questionable, those acts did not provide the state action link necessary for a constitutional deprivation. Rather, the state criminal trial, a proceeding initiated and conducted by the state itself, is an action of the state within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. The status of the lawyer, whether privately retained or court appointed, was irrelevant to the determination of state action for purposes of federal habeas corpus review of alleged violations of the sixth amendment guarantee of effective assistance of counsel. Sullivan did not equate the acts of private counsel with state action and therefore does not make private attorneys liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Sullivan does not change the rule of Jackson, that lawyers and other persons who participate in regulated or licensed businesses do not act under color of state law for purposes of liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 419 U.S. at 355, 95 S.Ct. at 455, 42 L.Ed.2d 477 (1974). Because the district court correctly concluded that the acts of the lawyers lacked state action, the dismissal of the complaint against the lawyers will be upheld. It is therefore unnecessary to decide whether substitution of lawyers deprived Henderson of any constitutional right. 15