刚才看到网友在我博客留言说,海明在给法官的信中提到,要陪桑兰去想检察官报告相关刑事性侵指控:"[海明】白纸黑字地告诉法官,他要在打民事官司的同时打刑事官司,而这正是明文禁止的不轨行为。"
这非常有道理。律师行规明确规定,律师不得在民事诉讼中以刑事控告威胁对方。这是几乎是每个州的律师协会都有的规则,虽然具体文字可能略有差别。
具体而言,纽约州的条款参见http://www.nycourts.gov/rules/jointappellate/NY%20Rules%20of%20Prof%20Conduct_09.pdf (Rule 3-4(e): A lawyer shall not present, participate in presenting, or threaten to present criminal charges solely to obtain an advantage in a civil matter.)
纽约市对类似条款的解释参见 http://www2.nycbar.org/Publications/reports/show_html_new.php?rid=167 (见附文)(读者可以GOOGLE 纽约州其他的相关条款)。
纽约市的解释称并不禁止律师举报刑事犯罪,但任何通过刑事案件威胁获取和解赔偿的暗示都是不允许的。一般来说,律师为了避免这个违规的嫌疑,在民事案中都避免提到刑事指控。比如说,蓄意侵犯版权是刑事犯罪,但在知识产权的民事案中,原告律师就不能以刑事指控威胁被告。
海明如果有言论可以被理解为通过刑事案威胁迫使被告民事和解,则不轨就成立。
Disciplinary Rule 7-105(A) of the New York Code of Professional Responsibility provides:
A lawyer shall not present, participate in presenting, or threaten to present criminal charges solely to obtain an advantage in a civil matter.
The rationale for this rule is stated in Ethical Consideration 7-21:
The civil adjudicative process is primarily designed for the settlement of disputes between parties, while the criminal process is designed for the protection of society as a whole. Threatening to use, or using, the criminal process to coerce adjustment of private civil claims or controversies is a subversion of that process; further, the person against whom the criminal process is so misused may be deterred from asserting legal rights and thus the usefulness of the civil process in settling private disputes is impaired. As in all cases of abuse of judicial process, the improper use of criminal process tends to diminish public confidence in our legal system.
DR 7-105(A) does not forbid a lawyer who is seeking civil remedies on a client's behalf against a person who has also violated a criminal statute from reporting the crime to the appropriate authorities. ABA Inf. 1484 (1981); C.W. Wolfram, Modern Legal Ethics s 13.5.5, at 717 (1986). [FN1] The rule has, however, been broadly interpreted to forbid even veiled allusions in settlement discussions to an adversary's potential criminal liability. See C.W. Wolfram, supra, at 717. [FN2] Consequently, a lawyer who represents the aggrieved party in a matter in which the potential defendant could have both civil and criminal liability may not suggest that the client would not report the crime if the potential defendant were to settle the civil claim satisfactorily. [FN3]
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