Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Abraham M. Fisch v. Texas

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Texas, First District, No. 01-14-00424-CV, 01-15-00874-CV · judgment October 3, 2017

Certiorari denied · March 18, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

A Texas intermediate court of appeals has ruled that a criminal defense attorney does not have a superior right to possess attorney’s fees that may have been stolen by his client without the attorney’s knowledge; that a criminal defense attorney may not challenge a forfeiture of attorney’s fees on behalf of his client; and that it is the attorney, rather than the government, who bears the burden of proof. Petitioner poses the following questions, and seeks this Court’s review:

  1. What is the appropriate standard of review to be employed when a court orders the forfeiture of attorney’s fees to the State?

  2. Does a criminal defense attorney have a superior right to possession of monies tendered to him by a client as attorney’s fees, though the client may have stolen the funds without the attorney’s knowledge?

  3. May a criminal defense attorney assert his client’s Sixth Amendment rights to recoup attorney’s fees seized by the State?

  4. Does forfeiture of attorney’s fees from a criminal defense attorney violate the Excessive Fines clause of the Eighth Amendment?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
R. Scott Shearer
Attorney at Law

For respondent
—

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Mar 18 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 27 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/15/2019.
  3. Dec 27 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 15, 2019)