Court Opinion

ID: 9496271
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:22:12.490355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:28.136493
License: Public Domain

JACOBS, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I write separately in support of the Court’s mandate, because I would reach the same result (vacatur of the judgment) by a somewhat different route.
In dismissing the petition, the district court believed that it was constrained by our Smaldone decision, which ruled: “This Circuit, like her sisters, has found attorney error inadequate to create the extraordinary circumstances equitable tolling requires.” Smaldone, 273 F.3d at 138 (collecting cases). The majority opinion now holds, however, that an attorney’s error “may be so outrageous or so incompetent as to render it extraordinary.” Maj. Op. at 152.
I agree with the majority that the district court read Smaldone too broadly, but I am reluctant to create a distinction between malpractice that is extraordinary and malpractice that is not. It will be very hard to draw that line, particularly since, unless the lawyer’s conduct is extraordinary, it would not amount to malpractice in the first place. See, e.g., Carney v. Philippone, 332 F.3d 163, 167 (2d Cir.2003) (stating that attorney malprac*154tice under New York law requires showing that the attorney “failed to exercise that degree of care, skill and diligence commonly possessed and exercised by an ordinary member of the legal community” (emphasis added)).
I think that principles of agency law furnish a superior basis for distinguishing this case from Smaldone. Cf Maj. Op. at 153 n. 6 (declining to reach agency argument on ground it was raised for the first time on appeal and it is unnecessary to the outcome of the appeal).
The habeas petitioner in Smaldone argued that his lawyer’s failure to file on time amounted to the kind of extraordinary circumstances that justify equitable tolling. In rejecting this claim, the Smal-done district court held that the petitioner was bound by his lawyer’s negligent actions because the lawyer was acting as the petitioner’s agent in preparing and filing a petition for habeas relief. See Smaldone v. Senkowski, No. 99-CV-3318, 2000 WL 1134391, at *6 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 3, 2000), ajfd, 273 F.3d 133 (2d Cir.2001). The court explained that, outside the criminal context (where the Sixth Amendment guarantees a right to competent counsel), “ ‘the attorney is the petitioner’s agent when acting, or failing to act, in furtherance of the litigation, and the petitioner must bear the risk of attorney error.’” Id. (quoting Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 753, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991)). In short, it is the petitioner (as principal) who has defaulted when the attorney fails to act on time.
The corollary to this rule is that when an “agent acts in a manner completely adverse to the principal’s interest,” the “principal is not charged with [the] agent’s misdeeds.” Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Bonnanzio, 91 F.3d 296, 303 (2d Cir.1996). Here, unlike in Smaldone, there is an evi-dentiary basis for concluding that the petitioner’s lawyer was not acting as agent: he took a $5,000 retainer without undertaking the requested service; set aside his client’s interests in favor of his own; and undertook a futile, unresearched, and frivolous initiative for the sole purpose of keeping the fee.
I concede that this agency argument was not raised in so many words in the district court. Generally, we decline to consider arguments raised for the first time on appeal. See, e.g., Mattel v. Barbie-Club.com, 310 F.3d 293 (2d Cir.2002). Nevertheless, petitioner articulated the factual basis for this argument in the district court by arguing that counsel acted adversely to petitioner’s interests: “Attorney Weinstein disregarded his client’s express instructions to file a Section 2255 petition.” Mem. in Support of Motion to Vacate Conviction, at 8. And petitioner invoked the agency issue implicitly by citation to our decision in Smaldone, a case in which the district court’s opinion relied on principles of agency law. See 2000 WL 1134391, at *6. We “sometimes entertain arguments not raised in the trial court” when “the elements of the claim were fully set forth and there is no need for additional fact finding.” Greene v. United States, 13 F.3d 577, 586 (2d Cir.1994). “Arguments made on appeal need not be identical to those made below ... if elements of the claim were set forth and additional findings of fact are not required.” Vintero Corp. v. Corporacion Venezolano de Fomento, 675 F.2d 513, 515 (2d Cir.1982).
Here, it is unclear that any additional fact finding is required. The district court determined that “Baldayaque was effectively ‘prevented’ from filing a § 2255 motion,” after he “requested that [Weinstein] file a § 2255 motion,” and Weinstein told Baldayaque, after “no research whatsoever,” that the filing period had expired. See Baldayaque, 2002 WL 31094962, at *1, *3. *155These determinations amount to an implicit ruling that Weinstein was not acting in his client’s interest; all that is missing is an express ruling on the mixed question of fact and law as to whether Weinstein ceased to be an agent and therefore ceased to bind Baldayaque to the consequences of his lawyer’s actions. See Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co., 91 F.3d at 303. While I would remand to permit the district court to answer this question in the first instance, I am not sure that a remand on this issue is required.
Whether or not the factual findings are adequate, and whether or not the agency argument was properly raised in the district court, we have discretion to consider the agency issue in this appeal. Greene, 13 F.3d at 586 (stating that the “general rule that an appellate court will not consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal,” can be “disregarded when we think it necessary to remedy an obvious injustice”). I would exercise discretion to entertain the agency argument here. Doing so would allow us to arrive at the manifestly proper result without creating a distinction between ordinary and extraordinary attorney malpractice — a distinction that is elusive, hard to apply, and counter-intuitive.