Utah: Case Against Lawyer for Civil Rights Violation Dismissed

In In re Yengich, Slip Copy, 2009 WL 4543688 (D.Utah), the Utah District Court dismissed a case against Defendant Yengich and other attorneys for conspiring to deny the Plaintiff’s co-defendants in another case the right to a fair trial, and various other grievances against the Defendant. The Plaintiff’s co-defendant’s guilty pleas in this other case were a clerical error. The Plaintiff filed the complaint pro-se.

The Utah District Court found that although the clerical error was made, the Plaintiff had no standing as a third party to assert claims for her co-defendants. The Supreme Court has recognized that “there may be circumstances where it is necessary to grant a third party standing to assert the rights of others.” Kowalski v. Tesmer, 543 U.S. 125, 129, 125 S.Ct. 564, 160 L.Ed.2d 519 (2004) (quoting Warth, 422 U.S. at 499). A party seeking third-party standing must make two additional showings: (1) that the party asserting the right has a close relationship with the person who possesses the right; and (2) that there is a hindrance to the possessor's ability to protect his or her own interests. Id.

To the extent that Ms. Wood-Federowicz may be attempting to assert claims on behalf of Mr. Federowicz and Ms. Bluff, she also has not satisfied the requirements for third-party standing. That is, the Court can find no indication that there is any hindrance to the abilities of Mr. Federowicz and Ms. Bluff to protect their own interests. See Kowalski, 543 U.S. at 129. Indeed, both Mr. Federowicz and Ms. Bluff have filed their own section 1983 actions in the District of Utah (09-cv-00481-JLK and 09-cv-00483-JLK). Accordingly, Ms. Wood-Federowicz is not entitled to third-party standing in this action. Because the Court finds that Ms. Wood-Federowicz does not have standing, it need not address Defendant's other arguments for dismissal.

This case teaches that even though an attorney may make a mistake which could be construed as mal-practice, it’s best to leave some legal issues to the professionals.