Do you have any support in case law or otherwise that there is a general right to counsel in civil matters?Gregg wrote:Its a fundamental right. Would you have a mentally handicapped person required to appear as a defendant in a small claims case pro se? Easy money, just sue the crazy people and then garnish their benefits, they might not even notice! How about corporations, who for the most part cannot appear without an attorney. Sure, as someone pointed out, an officer of a corporation can appear ( I didn't know that) in some situations, but what if the company being sued is a Fortune 500 Company, is Jeffrey Immelt free to defend that $500 refund case in Washington County Small Claims Court? You can waive your right to representation, but you can't waive my right to anything. Setting up a court as such would be pointless, if both parties have to agree, and one doesn't, well, it goes to another court, but if both parties agree to not have attorneys, they can do that now, in any court, if they are not corporations or fictitious entities that cannot appear pro se.
As to your instructor telling you that, I'm astonished that someone who doesn't know better is allowed to teach at that level. A casual observer might be fooled so, but think a minute, just the examples I give here, does that make any sense?
It may not be cost effective to hire an attorney, but you always have the right to one, civil or criminal. In civil cases you don't get a public defender.
As far as your example about a mentally handicapped person, federal courts (see FRCP 17(c)(2)), must appoint a guardiam ad litem (or other representative) to protect an incompetent person who is unrepresented.
Even in the situation of an incompetent party being sued in Federal court, there is no right to counsel - the court appoints a guardian.
Some states provide right to counsel in specific instances (child abuse, neglect, parental termination etc.) but the right to counsel AFAIK has never been declared a fundamental right. For review of state statues, see this article.
