Applegate v. Dickman Law Offices, P.S.C.

507 S.W.3d 28, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 205, 2016 WL 7405776
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedDecember 22, 2016
DocketNO. 2014-CA-002031-MR
StatusPublished

This text of 507 S.W.3d 28 (Applegate v. Dickman Law Offices, P.S.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Applegate v. Dickman Law Offices, P.S.C., 507 S.W.3d 28, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 205, 2016 WL 7405776 (Ky. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

VANMETER, JUDGE:

Christopher Applegate appeals from a Kenton Circuit Court order dismissing with prejudice his malpractice action against Paul J. Dickman and Dickman Law Offices, P.S.C. (collectively “Dick-man”). At issue is whether the trial court correctly held that Applegate’s claims against Dickman are barred by the operation of the statute of limitations, KRS1 413.245. Applegate contends that' his claim was timely because the limitations period did not begin to run until the trial court granted his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the underlying criminal action.

’ On June 24, 2010, the Kenton County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Applegate with twenty counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor; one count of sexual abuse in the first degree; one count of distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor; and one count of distribution of obscene matter to minors.

Applegate retained Dickman as . his counsel to represent him in the case. On January 11, 2011, on Dickman’s advice, Applegate entered a guilty plea to two counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor. The remainder of the charges were dismissed. On May 27, 2011, he was sentenced to serve two consecutive four-year terms of imprisonment in accordance with the terms of his plea agreement.

On March 5, 2013, Applegate, who was incarcerated in Muhlenberg County, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Muhlenberg Circuit Court, alleging that the plea and sentence were based upon an unconstitutional ex post facto application of the law. According to the indictment, the charges against Applegate stemmed from acts he committed prior to June 8, 2006. The statute defining possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor, KRS 531.335, classified the offense as a Class A misdemeanor at the [30]*30time Applegate violated the statute. The indictment, however, incorrectly designated the offense as a Class D felony. The offense was not elevated to a Class D felony until a legislative amendment which became effective on July 12, 2006.2 The indictment also incorrectly described the remainder of the charges, except sexual abuse in the first degree, as Class D felonies; the sexual abuse in the first degree charge was described as a Class C felony although it was a Class D felony at the time the offenses were committed. The misdemeanor charges carried a maximum penalty of twelve months, KRS 532.110(b), and Applegate also contended that the statute of limitations had run on the misdemeanors. See KRS 500.050(1) (stating that “the prosecution of an offense other than a felony must be commenced within one (1) year after it is committed[ ]”). The Muhlenberg Circuit Court issued the writ and Applegate was released on April 18, 2013.

On April 17, 2014, Applegate and Dick-man entered into a Conditional Tolling Agreement, by which Dickman agreed to “extend any applicable statute of limitations that has not already expired as of the date of my execution of this Conditional Tolling Agreement, to the date of June 2, 2014.” Applegate filed suit against Dick-man on June 2, 2014, alleging malpractice. Dickman filed a motion to dismiss, on the grounds that the statutory limitations period had expired, at the very latest, on March 5, 2014, one year after the date Applegate filed the petition for the writ. Dickman contended that Applegate was aware when he drafted the writ of the same facts that supported his current claim for malpractice.

Applegate responded that the filing of the petition for the writ of habeas corpus tolled the limitations statute, and that his claim did not ripen until the date the writ was actually issued.

The trial court granted the motion to dismiss on the grounds that a collateral attack on a criminal conviction does not toll the statute of limitations on a claim of legal malpractice against a criminal defense attorney. This appeal by Applegate followed.

A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted admits as true the material facts of the complaint. So a court should not grant such a motion unless it appears the pleading party would not be entitled to relief under any set of facts which could be proved.... Stated another way, the court must ask if the facts alleged in the complaint can be proved, would the plaintiff be entitled to relief? Since a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted is a pure question of law, a reviewing court owes no deference to a trial court’s determination; instead, an appellate court reviews the issue de novo.

Fox v. Grayson, 317 S.W.3d 1, 7 (Ky. 2010) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).

The applicable statute of limitations provides that

a civil action, whether brought in tort or contract, arising out of any act or omission in rendering, or failing to render, professional services for others shall be brought within one (1) year from the date of the occurrence or from the date when the cause of action was, or reasonably should have been, discovered by the party injured. Time shall not commence against a party under legal disability until removal of the disability.

KRS 413.245.

The trial court found the date of the occurrence of the malpractice to be Janu[31]*31ary 28, 2011, when Applegate entered his guilty plea based on the erroneous advice and belief that the charges against him constituted felonies rather than misdemeanors. The trial court further found that Applegate reasonably discovered his cause of action on the date he filed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, March 5, 2013. His malpractice action was filed on June 2, 2014. The court concluded that, under either scenario, the action was time-barred under the statute.

Applegate argues, in reliance on Stephens v. Denison, 64 S.W.3d 297, 299 (Ky. App. 2001), that the period of limitation was tolled until such time as his damages became fixed and non-speculative, which he contends occurred on April 18, 2013, the date on which the Muhlenberg Circuit Court granted his petition for the writ of habeas corpus. In Stephens, the appellant alleged that his attorney failed timely to communicate an advantageous plea offer from the Commonwealth of a two-year sentence and dismissal of a Persistent Felony Offender charge. Instead, the appellant went to trial and received an enhanced sentence of twenty years. He brought a malpractice action against the attorney more than one year after the date of final sentencing in his case, while his appeal before the Kentucky Supreme Court was pending.

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507 S.W.3d 28, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 205, 2016 WL 7405776, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/applegate-v-dickman-law-offices-psc-kyctapp-2016.