Bolin v. Williams

Background

Paul C. Bolin, identified in the opinion as a California state prisoner incarcerated on death row at San Quentin State Prison, filed a pro se damages action. He sued two federal public defenders and a private attorney appointed to represent him in federal habeas proceedings. Bolin alleged breach of a contract between client and counsel, legal malpractice, and other wrongdoing related to his defense.

The opinion states that Bolin’s state-court death sentence was affirmed by the California Supreme Court in 1998. A federal petition challenging that conviction and sentence was filed in 1999 under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The federal district court denied that petition in June 2016, and Bolin’s appeal from that denial was pending in the Ninth Circuit when he filed this action.

Court’s Analysis

The court relied on the rule that a public defender does not act under color of state law—a required element of a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983—when performing a lawyer’s functions for an indigent defendant in state criminal proceedings. The court stated that the same reasoning applies to federal public defenders and private attorneys appointed to represent an indigent defendant or petitioner in federal criminal or habeas proceedings. Those attorneys do not act under color of federal law for purposes of a civil-rights action under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents.

Because the defendants were two federal public defenders and a private attorney appointed to represent Bolin in federal habeas proceedings, the court concluded that his allegations did not state a viable damages claim under § 1983 or Bivens.

Disposition

The court dismissed Bolin’s action under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b) for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. The opinion also stated that, to the extent Bolin sought substitution of counsel in his pending federal appeal, he had to make that request in the Ninth Circuit.