Central Florida Legal Services, Inc. v. Perry

406 So. 2d 111, 1981 Fla. App. LEXIS 21750
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 25, 1981
DocketNo. 81-679
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 406 So. 2d 111 (Central Florida Legal Services, Inc. v. Perry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Central Florida Legal Services, Inc. v. Perry, 406 So. 2d 111, 1981 Fla. App. LEXIS 21750 (Fla. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinions

FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., Judge.

Petitioners, Central Florida Legal Services, Inc., N. Albert Bacharach, Jr., and Eddie Lee Lester, seek a writ of mandamus or, in the alternative, a writ of certiorari to require Robert R. Perry and E. L. East-moore, as judges of the Circuit Court of Putnam County, to vacate an order appointing Bacharach, an attorney employed by Central Florida Legal Services, to serve as counsel for Lester in a criminal proceeding.

We shall treat the petition as one for certiorari. In Colonial Penn Ins. Co. v. Blair, 380 So.2d 1305 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980), we enunciated the three prerequisites to common law certiorari:

(1) the order sought to be reviewed does not conform to the essential requirements of law;
(2) material injury will result from the order; and
(3) remedy by appeal is inadequate.

In this instance, we find these requirements have been met and grant certiorari.

On April 30, 1981, the Public Defender certified a conflict of interest between Lester and another defendant and requested substitution of court appointed counsel. On May 13, 1981, Judge Eastmoore appointed Bacharach to represent Lester. On May 20, 1981, Bacharach filed an ex parte motion to set aside his appointment alleging that federal law prohibited the appointment of legal services attorneys to criminal cases and that he was not competent to represent clients in criminal matters. In the absence of Judge Eastmoore, Judge Perry denied the motion. Petitioners then filed their petition for writ of certiorari.

The Legal Services Corporation Act was adopted by Congress to provide equal access to the system -of justice for individuals who seek redress of grievances and who would otherwise be unable to afford adequate legal counsel. See 42 U.S.C. § 2996(1) and (2). The purpose was to provide financial support for legal assistance in noncriminal proceedings or matters to persons financially unable to afford legal assistance. 42 U.S.C. § 2996b(a). 42 U.S.C. § 2996f(b) specifically provides that no funds made available by the Corporation may be used to provide legal assistance with respect to any criminal proceeding, except to provide assistance to a person charged with a misdemeanor or lesser offense or its equivalent in an Indian tribal court.

Regulations enacted pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2996g(e), which govern the activities of legal service organizations funded under the act also limit their activities to civil matters. See 45 C.F.R. § 1613.1 and § 1613.3. The only exception is found in 45 C.F.R. § 1613.1 which provides as follows:

Legal assistance may be provided with respect to a criminal proceeding:
(a) Pursuant to a court appointment made under a statute or a court rule or practice of equal applicability to all attorneys in the jurisdiction, if authorized by the recipient after a determination that it is consistent with the recipient’s primary responsibility to provide legal assistance to eligible clients in civil matters; or
[113]*113(b) When professional responsibility requires representation in a criminal proceeding arising out of a transaction with respect to which the client is being, or has been, represented by recipient.

The present case involves the situation described in § 1613.1(a). Here, Bacharach was appointed to represent Lester, an indigent criminal defendant. Even assuming arguendo that the court appointment was made pursuant to statute, court rule or practice of equal applicability to all attorneys in the jurisdiction, legal assistance may be provided only after the recipient, here Central Florida Legal Services, has determined that such representation is consistent with the recipient’s primary responsibility to provide legal assistance to clients in civil matters. Central Florida Legal Services has determined that representation of indigent criminal defendants is inconsistent with its primary responsibility to provide legal assistance in civil matters. In view of this determination, the order of the court below appointing Bacharach counsel for Lester in a criminal proceeding directly contravenes federal law and regulations concerning legal services.1

The respondents, however, claim that the prohibition against representation of indigent defendants in criminal matters unless authorized by the director conflicts with the Integration Rule of the Florida Bar and the Code of Professional Responsibility. Respondents argue that the courts of the State of Florida have exclusive jurisdiction over the admission of attorneys and the regulation of the practice of law in state courts and hence, any federal law prohibiting legal services attorneys from representing criminal defendants is a violation of the Tenth Amendment.2

In Sperry v. Florida, 373 U.S. 379, 83 S.Ct. 1322, 10 L.Ed.2d 428 (1963), the Florida Bar instituted proceedings to enjoin a nonlawyer registered to practice before the United States Patent Office from preparing and prosecuting patent applications in Florida. Notwithstanding that such activity constituted the practice of law in Florida, the Supreme Court held that Florida could not enjoin the nonlawyer in view of the federal statute and patent office regulations authorizing practice before the patent office by nonlawyers.

In so holding, the court recognized that Florida had a substantial, though not exclusive, interest in regulating the practice of law within the state and that, in the absence of federal legislation, it could validly prohibit nonlawyers from engaging in this form of patent practice. However, “the law of the state, though enacted in the exercise of powers not controverted, must yield,” when incompatible with federal legislation. 83 S.Ct. at 1325, quoting from Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat) 1, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824).

The court also addressed the state’s argument that the patent regulations violated the Tenth Amendment. The court noted the source of Congress’s power to grant patent rights and to promulgate regulations thereunder. It concluded that as Congress had acted within the scope of the powers delegated to it by the Constitution, it had not exceeded the limits of the Tenth Amendment despite the concurrent effects of the legislation upon a matter otherwise within the control of the states. The court further noted that:

The authority of Congress is no less when the state power which it displaces would [114]*114otherwise have been exercised by the state judiciary rather than by the state legislature, (emphasis added)

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
406 So. 2d 111, 1981 Fla. App. LEXIS 21750, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/central-florida-legal-services-inc-v-perry-fladistctapp-1981.