SC20719 - Cooke v. Williams ("In Taylor v. Wallace, 184 Conn. App. 43, 51–52, 194 A.3d 343 (2018), the Appellate Court adopted what is generally referred to as the exoneration rule for civil claims seeking relief against a plaintiff's former criminal defense or habeas counsel for harm allegedly caused by the lawyer's legal malpractice. The exoneration rule provides that appellate or postconviction relief is a necessary element of a claim for criminal malpractice if that claim challenges the validity of an underlying conviction by requiring proof that the attorney's negligence was the cause of the plaintiff's conviction as a defendant in the underlying criminal case. Id. The Appellate Court in Taylor further explained that the failure to obtain appellate or postconviction relief renders the criminal malpractice claim unripe and, therefore, not justiciable. Id. Applying the exoneration rule to the present case, the Appellate Court upheld the trial court's dismissal of the claim of criminal malpractice filed by the plaintiff, Ian T. Cooke, against the defendants, John R. Williams and John R. Williams and Associates, LLC, the attorney and law firm that represented the plaintiff in his habeas case. Cooke v. Williams, 206 Conn. App. 151, 165, 259 A.3d 1211 (2021).
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In the present case, we conclude that, because the plaintiff's claim of criminal malpractice necessarily requires findings that would undermine the validity of his underlying conviction and he has not obtained appellate or postconviction relief, he has not alleged a cognizable claim of criminal malpractice. We reverse the Appellate Court's judgment dismissing the criminal malpractice claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.")