358 F. Supp. 2d 523 - Wessinger v. Cain’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““While the normal errors made by attorneys may not justify equitable tolling of the statute of limitations for filing a habeas petition, extreme situations, such as abandonment, require a different result. Accordingly, an attorney’s conduct, if it is sufficiently egregious, may constitute the sort of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ that would justify the application of equitable tolling to the one year limitations period. As detailed above, petitioner reasonably relied on the silence of his counsel, Mr. [Winston] Rice, to his detriment. An attorney’s intentional deceit may warrant equitable tolling of statute of limitations on a motion for collateral relief if a petitioner shows that he reasonably relied on his attorney’s deceptive misrepresentations. Silence has been equated with deception in the Fifth Circuit when there is a legal or moral duty to speak. The attorney client relationship contains both a legal and moral duty to speak. Failure of petitioner’s attorney to do so merits equitable tolling.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ward v. State · 614 F. Supp. 2d 714 - Zapata v. Cain

2. “During the period from October to December, Mr. Rice’s health worsened. In conjunction with this decline, Mr. Rice was asked to leave his firm. Despite these events, Mr. Rice did not seek to withdraw as petitioner’s counsel though little to no work was performed on petitioner’s case. Moreover, Mr. Rice did not inform petitioner of his condition or seek a substitution of counsel for petitioner. Finally, on December 5, 2000, ONE DAY before petitioner’s federal statute of limitations was to expire, Mr. Rice wrote a letter to the head of the LSBA project, Judge Ginger Berrigan. In the letter, Mr. Rice explained that he was suffering from “neurologic and biochemical disorders” and that he had become “disabled without income.” He confided that he was unable to further assist his client (petitioner), and asked for aid in securing a replacement counsel as his former law partners wanted “nothing to do with the case.” Further, Mr. Rice admitted in the letter that he had not notified his client of the insurmountable obstacles he was facing, or that he was unable to perform the function of an attorney.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 614 F. Supp. 2d 714 - Zapata v. Cain

3. “Mr. Rice did not make any attempt to contact his own client to inform him of his incapacity or inability to further pursue petitioner’s action. Based on the foregoing, petitioner had no reason to doubt his counsel was not following through with every diligent effort on his part. Moreover, petitioner had met with Mr. Rice twice in the summer, before his condition worsened, and was not told by Mr. Rice of any change in Rice’s health condition thereafter. As previously stated, reasonable reliance on such silence equates to deception, and merits equitable tolling.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 614 F. Supp. 2d 714 - Zapata v. Cain