For thirty years, criminal defense attorneys have benefitted from the 1995 Texas Supreme Court decision in Peeler v. Hughes & Luce, 909 S.W.2d 494, 498 (Tex. 1995) (plurality op.), which found that unexonerated criminal defendants were precluded from suing for legal malpractice because the defendant’s own criminal conduct is deemed the sole proximate and producing cause of a conviction and “any injuries flowing from the conviction.” 

On June 26, 2026, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in In Carden v. Minton, Bassett, Flores & Carsey, P.C. determining that the Peeler doctrine does not, however, extend to immunize criminal-defense counsel from tort and contract claims wholly independent from the conviction.  

The case came to the Court following a Rule 91a dismissal. An incarcerated criminal defendant and his mother sued defense counsel, alleging causes of action for legal malpractice, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty. While some of the allegations did focus on the attorney’s degree of care, skill, and diligence (and thus sounded in…