Duncan v. Campbell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 45 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 51 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[E]ven if we were moved by [Duncan’s public policy] concerns ... we do not believe that the appropriate response to those concerns would be to potentially indefinitely toll the statute of limitations. It must be remembered that criminal defendants have no time limits on habeas corpus relief in New Mexico. In fact, [Duncan] waited more than two years after his conviction was affirmed to file his habeas petition. In this connection, we agree with the Michigan court that the legislative policies underlying statutes of limitations, which courts are bound to uphold, suggest that neither the statutes of limitations nor the elements of the tort of malpractice should be altered to satisfy other policy concerns. Rather, [Duncan’s] concerns may be accommodated by recognizing that there may be two tracks, one civil and one criminal, arising out of malpractice committed in criminal cases. In appropriate cases, the civil track may be stayed while the criminal track is pursued. The utilization of this “two track” approach was viewed as providing the best balance between the competing concerns of fairness to the criminal defendant and allowing the attorney a fair opportunity to defend. * * * ... With the claim preserved, the plaintiff may and perhaps should seek a stay in the civil suit until the criminal case is resolved. The trial court handling the civil suit would have discretion regarding imposition of a stay, keeping in mind the nature of the basis asserted for post-conviction relief.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Noske v. Friedberg · 133 Md. App. 442 - Berringer v. Steele

2. “We need not decide whether to adopt the rule here, however, because even if we were moved by some of the considerations underlying it, we hold that the rule followed in Michigan is more appropriate for New Mexico. See Gebhardt v. O'Rourke [, 444 Mich 535 , 510 N.W.2d 900, 907 (1994) ] [citation omitted](holding that even if there are reasons to follow a different substantive rule about legal malpractice in criminal cases, those reasons do not justify lengthening the statute of limitations and would at most justify staying the civil malpractice case until the criminal proceedings were concluded).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 724 So. 2d 1192 - Steele v. Kehoe