Johnstone v. Town of Kearny
Johnstone v. Town of Kearny
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Plaintiff appeals from the grant of summary judgment dismissing his complaint seeking pro rata attorney’s fees because of the disposition favorable to him on some charges embodied in a multicount federal indictment. Plaintiffs claim arises under N.J.S.A. 40A:14-155, which provides:
Whenever a member or officer of a municipal police department or force is a defendant in any action or legal proceeding arising out of and directly related to the lawful exercise of police powers in the furtherance of his official duties, the governing body of the municipality shall provide said member or officer with necessary means for the defense of such action or proceeding, but not for his defense in a disciplinary proceeding instituted against him by the municipality or in criminal proceeding instituted as a result of a complaint on behalf of the municipality. If any such disciplinary or criminal proceeding instituted by or on complaint of the municipality shall be dismissed or finally determined in favor of the member or officer, he shall be reimbursed for the expense of his defense.
According to plaintiff, he
was a Kearny Police Officer. He was indicted in a federal indictment of various counts of excessive use of force. The plaintiff-appellant was convicted on some counts as to certain named victims and acquitted or had counts dismissed as to other named victims. Although the defendant was charged in a single indictment and was tried in a single trial, the indictment itself charged different acts on*608 different dates against different [victims], all of which were unrelated except by the generic nature of the offense.
While defendant municipality asserts that plaintiff was convicted on six counts of the indictment and acquitted on one, plaintiff asserts he “was convicted on five counts” and that “[t]hree of the counts as to one individual complainant were discharged in their entirety.” From the record before us it appears that two counts were dismissed before trial, plaintiff was acquitted on one of the counts, was convicted of six counts alleging violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 242, as a result of “the use of unreasonable force by one acting under color of law.” However, the number of convictions is irrelevant, and we will accept plaintiffs representation for purposes of this opinion. Plaintiff argues that he is entitled to reimbursement “for the charges on which [he] was not convicted.”
We need not speculate if a defendant is financially better off when multiple counts are joined for trial or if there is a fair way to allocate counsel fees attributable to specific counts of a multi-count indictment. We adhere to Township of Waterford v. Babli, 158 N.J.Super. 569, 386 A.2d 906 (Law Div. 1978), aff'd o.b., 168 N.J.Super. 18, 401 A.2d 697 (App.Div. 1979), and reject plaintiffs “argument that he is entitled to a proportionate share of his attorney’s fees based on the percentage of the charges of which he was subsequently acquitted.” Id. at 573, 386 A.2d 906.
We recognize that Babli supra, was decided before the 1986 amendment to the statute. The amendment was designed to
Finally, we note that Babli and Oches involve disciplinary proceedings and procedures unique thereto.
Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed substantially for the reasons expressed by Judge Joseph T. Ryan in his oral opinion of July 9,1999, as supplemented herein.
Babli involved a disciplinary proceeding at which he was convicted on all charges. On de novo review he was acquitted on four of the charges, but convicted on two. Id. at 570, 386 A.2d 906. Babli arose under the "disciplinary proceeding” provision of the statute.
We recognize that in the context of a civil service disciplinary proceeding an exonerated police officer may be reimbursed for counsel fees, pursuant to statute and regulation, even though he might not satisly the criteria embodied in N.J.S.A. 40A:14-155. Oches, supra, at 8-13, 713 A.2d 993. This case involves neither an administrative proceeding nor an exoneration. Plaintiff was convicted of violating the criminal law while "acting under color of law."
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.