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Alabama Rule 3.10 Threatening Criminal Prosecution
A lawyer
shall not present, participate in presenting, or threaten to present criminal
charges solely to obtain an advantage in a civil matter.
COMMENT
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 his or her legal rights and
when that happens 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 the criminal process tends to diminish public confidence in our legal
system.
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