Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (case)

This article is about the class-action lawsuit, Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. For the Season 4 episode with the same name, see "Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania". For the identically named wrongful death lawsuit filed by Nate Jr. shown in Season 6, see "Nate Lahey Sr. Wrongful Death Lawsuit".

Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (case)
First seen	"Was She Ever Good at Her Job?"
Last seen	"Nobody Else Is Dying"
Judge	Mark Spivey Chief Justice Patrick Montgomery Justice Helen Bass Justice Alberto Gutierrez Justice Strickland
Defence Attorney Annalise Keating Olivia Pope
Prosecutor Ingrid Egan
Plaintiff	The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Defendant	Nathaniel Lahey, Sr.
Result	Won
Seasons	S1 - S2 - S3 - S4 - S5 - S6

"Backed by former President Fitzgerald Grant and D.C. power player Olivia Pope, the plaintiffs in Lahey v. Commonwealth argued for better funding for public defenders. Today the Supreme Court returned a decision. The justices sided with the plaintiffs, led by attorney Annalise Keating. Many had questioned whether Ms. Keating, a controversial criminal defense attorney, was the right person to argue such an important case. Today, with this momentous win, Ms. Keating has proved her detractors wrong and ensured a far-reaching step forward for defendants across the entire country. With this victory, it's clear Ms. Keating has become a legal powerhouse on a national level."

—The Desk Anchor about the class action and Annalise.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Lahey was a landmark 6th supreme court case, which ruled that the under funding of public defenders violated the 6th amendment right to counsel. This was Annalise Keating's first class action lawsuit and her first case which she got to fight in the Supreme Court, which she wouldn't have been able to do if it wasn't for Olivia Pope. The lawsuit was also aimed at attaining more funding for public defenders in order for them to better represent their clients.

Preparation

Season 4

Early stages

Annalise got the inspiration to sue the state after she was imprisoned for arson and murder of Wes. Following her release. her first client was somebody she met in jail, Jasmine Bromelle. Annalise was able to get her criminal record sealed and have her granted immediate release. She downplayed her victory during her therapy with Isaac Roa, however. Soon after she took on a client of chief public defender Virginia Cross. Annalise was able to completely exhonerate him and have Virginia admit on the stand she was unable to provide her clients with their right to a fair trial due to her case load. She downplayed this victory again with Isaac, saying she won too late. She then revealed to him she wanted to file a class action lawsuit against the governor, the state and the entire justice system. Isaac was against the idea but Annalise proceeded anyway. ("I'm Not Her", "It's for the Greater Good")

Annalise began work on the class action soon after. She planned to name govenor Lynne Birkhead first on the suit. She needed 40 plantiffs to file with the court and planned to visit jails to convince people to sign on, but not before looking into Virginia's past clients as Annalise believed there would be other cases that were neglected. Other tasks she outlined was finding the right face case and getting enough money to fund her research and preparation. The next day she stopped Soraya Hargrove on campus to ask her to be hired on her divorce case. Soraya was hesitant and said a mediation was already scheduled, saying both her and Raul wanted to settle. Annalise told her she wouldn't have to fire her lawyer, she could consult and if she got Soraya a better deal, she got paid instead. Soraya agreed.

During her work on the Hargrove case, Annalise requested the trial transcripts for every Virginia Cross case. After realising that would be too expensive she settled for just the front page with the defendant's name on it. Later she paid and collected them and Nate asked her what she was up to. That night he spoke with Bonnie, who was suspicious of Annalise. She believed Annalise was going for chief public defender, based on what she knew about Annalise from Lindgren v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At the same time Annalise began sorting through the files she had collected. ("Was She Ever Good at Her Job?")

Bonnie's sabotage

Annalise began meeting with inmates in prison and convincing them to join onto her lawsuit. She was bribing guards to get in without having to sign the visitor logs because she didn't want anybody to find out what she was doing until she filed with the court. At the same time, Bonnie told Nate that over 20 of Virginia's past clients had their attorney listed as 'pending'. Nate tried to reason with her but she was adamant, then asked him to go to the prison and find out if Annalise had met with any inmates Bonnie had on a sheet. Nate told her to go but she said she already did and they told her Annalise was never there.

When Nate was at the prison, he confronted Annalise about not being on the visitor logs and put it together that she was bribing the guards. She explained why, that she didn't want anybody to find out what she was doing, but Nate told her that Bonnie was suspicious. He said that he had somebody for her case but she needed to get her clients in the right way or he wouldn't give her their name. Back at the District Attorney's office Nate lied to Bonnie and said Annalise hadn't been to the prison. Bonnie ended up going again herself and asking the desk clerk to check the security cameras. Meanwhile Annalise met with Claudia Gelvin, who was hesitant to sign up.

The next day Claudia rang Annalise and told her that she and some other inmates were in, totalling 15. Then Evalyn Park rang and told Annalise she would no longer be signing onto the lawsuit because the 'D.A lady' (Bonnie) promised her a better deal. Manuel Soto rang next and brought up Annalise's alcoholism and how she nearly got disbarred and that he would no longer be joining too. Rex Morris after that and dropped out. More and more other inmates rang Annalise with the same news, that they wouldn't be joining the class action. That night Annalise confronted Bonnie about what she had caused. The next day she had Connor begin helping on the case. ("I Love Her")

Civil asset forfeiture

Connor met Annalise after her session with Isaac and told her that the D.A's office served an asset seizure notice to Claudia unless she took her name off the class action. Annalise and Connor met with Claudia with her son Tyrone and she explained what civil asset forfeiture was. She continued that the D.A's office was only doing it to scare Claudia into dropping out of the class action lawsuit Annalise was leading. She later met with judge Mitchell Sabarski, who said Annalise should have expected pusback because she was suing the entire state. Annalise said all she needed was an injunction to stop the seizure. Sabarski said he could sign any injuction she wanted but it wasn't going to stop the D.A's office from going after her. After, Connor was waiting outside and the two left together. Annalise said the judges were too scared to sign the injuction because Denver was running for Attorney General. During their conversation Annalise decided she was 'in the mood to yell' and the two went to the D.A's office. Once there, she told everybody they should be ashamed for helping Denver take a family's home away. After, Bonnie confronted Nate about lying that Annalise hadn't been to the prison. That night Connor said he wished he recorded what she said at the D.A's office because it would have gone viral.

The next day, after therapy Annalise returned back to her hotel room and Connor presented an idea to her. He said they should have Tyrone write a letter to the newspaper about how the D.A was profiting off civil forfeiture. Annalise said nobody read newspapers anymore and thought back to how Connor wished her 'Denver speech' went viral. Later they held a press conference that Tyrone opened by addressing govenor Birkhead and exposing what the D.A's office was doing. He said he needed the public's help to make it right. When he was finished Annalise took over and said that she was taking an injunction to judge Sabarski because he had never hesitated to stand up for the 'lesser' among them. Annalise knew that if she called him out on live TV he would have no choice but to sign the injunction. She then met with Claudia and told her everything was fixed. ("Stay Strong, Mama")

Certification hearing

Following the press conference, a class action certification hearing was held. Attorney General Anderson Chase started the hearing by filing a motion for the immediate dismissal of the case. Judge Nanjani asked on what grounds so Chase said that Annalise only had 33 plantiffs of 40. Nanjani asked if this was true and Annalise said she had acquired 79 plantiffs following public support. After that Chase brought up that Annalise was an alcoholic. She then presented her urine tests to the court as proof that she was sober, so Chase submitted into evidence a photo taken just days prior showing Annalise holding a bottle of Scotch. She called the photo entrapment, challenging the claim that the photo was proof she took a drink. She then explained to the judge somebody placed the bottle on her car and she picked it up to throw it away. She then said that the A.G must of had somebody waiting out of view to photograph her holding the bottle. The hearing was set to continue later that day and Annalise told Connor she was being put on trial and should have seen it coming.

At the hotel, Connor offered for Annalise to use his tuition money to find the people who took the photo with a P.I. Annalise didn't want to do that. She quickly decided on an idea and went to Denver's office and asked him to help. He said no, and Annalise responded that they had the same enemy. Denver was running for Attorney General so making Chase look bad in court would support his campaign as well as get Annalise's class action certified. Following that, Denver called Darlene Thornton to his office and told her she would be called as a witness in the hearing and she had to lie on the stand.

In the hearing, Annalise requested to call a witness to the stand and the judge agreed. She called Darlene to the stand and asked her if she took the picture that was presented earlier. She said yes and then Annalise asked if she placed the bottle of Scotch too, and Darlene said yes again. Chase said he had reason to believe that she was lying and Annalise questioned this because the only way he'd know was if his office was behind it. Annalise asked if Darlene was lying and she said no so Annalise asked why she would do such a thing, so Darlene said it was because Annalise was helping convicted criminals.

Following that Bonnie met with Chase in the parking lot and told him she knew how to beat Annalise. The next day, Annalise met Isaac outside the courtroom and he told her that he was subpoenaed by the A.G. On the stand he was asked if in his professional opinion Annalise was competent to represent a case of such a large scale. Isaac said that Annalise had a strong desire to see the case through, so Chase said it wasn't about her desire. He then asked if he believed Annalise may have relapsed following taking on the case due to the amount of stress. Isaac said no. Chase then asked how many times Isaac requested Annalise be drug or alcohol tested and Isaac said only three, so Chase questioned if this was because he feared Annalise broke the terms of her prohbation by taking a drink. Isaac said no, so Chase rephrased. He asked if taking on a case of such magnitute would increase the likelihood that Annalise relapsed and after a brief pause, Isaac said he had total confidence in Annalise.

After the hearing, the A.G confronted Bonnie about being wrong about Isaac testifying against Annalise. Nate overheard and questioned her, so Bonnie came clean and said she knew that Isaac would help Annalise and that was why she tricked the A.G into making him testify. After a recess, judge Nanjani certified the class action. ("Nobody Roots for Goliath")

Making Lahey Sr. the face case

Following the certification, Annalise told Connor not to call or text unless it was an emergency. There ended up being an emergency that stemmed from the party at Caplan & Gold, so work on the class action was paused temporarily. When Annalise got back to work, she had Asher and Oliver working on the case too. She tasked them with finding a face case. They did ths work at Michaela's Apartment and after hours of research, mostly done by Connor, they found Nate Lahey Sr.'s file. He told Oliver and Asher that he had been in solitary confinement for a decade after he killed another inmate. The next day Annalise confronted Nate about this and told him she was going to look through his files to see if he could be eligible for the class action. Later that day, after the Christopher Castillo custody hearing had begun, Annalise returned to Nate and told him his dad fit the criteria and they could go to the prison to visit him that night. During the visit, Nate Sr. became agitated and refused to sign on, calling Nate Jr. a pig. ("Live. Live. Live.", "Everything We Did Was For Nothing", "He's a Bad Father")

The next day, Annalise went back to Nate, who was defeated and had given up, and told him he needed to convince his dad to sign up. Nate said some people can't be helped but Annalise wanted to make him her face case. This caused Nate to later go back to the prison and get his dad's signature and then visit Annalise in her hotel. ("He's a Bad Father")

Losing the case

The Keating 4 + Oliver met at his apartment to work on the class action. After Laurel arrived, Annalise rang Connor and confirmed that she was cleared to visit Nate Sr. everyday that week and the opening statement was being worked on. Later when they started on the statement, Connor and Michaela disagreed on how to write it. Connor said they should frame the opening statement around Nate Sr.'s story but Michaela said there was no jury and the judge wasn't going to care about 'some sob story'. Connor vetoed, saying he'd been on the case longer than anyone but Michaela didn't listen.

Annalise met with Nate Sr. and told him he'd be the first to testify and they needed to go over it again. At the same time Connor and Michaela began to read their drafts to the rest of the group. Nate Sr. explained how he stole food stamps and money to feed his son. Annalise asked about his 1982 parole violation so Sr. said he came back home to a bill from the prison, charging him thousands in court feeds and he couldn't pay as he couldn't get a job as a convicted felon. He continued that each time he went back to jail he was a target because he was a boxer, that they taunted him and he had no choice but to retaliate. About the murder, Sr. said that the man came at him in the yard, wanting 'to see what the boxer had inside of him'. He said the man threw the first punch before something went off inside of him, he blinked and was on top of him pounding as hard as he could.

Later in court Connor presented to Annalise his draft for her opening statement and she said it didn't sound like her and would be winging it instead. When court was in session, the prosecutor said that no trial would be happening because the A.G had recieved a King's Bench petition from the Supreme Court. They were pulling the case from trial court to hear it themselves. The prosecutor continued that both sides were to submit a written brief in lieu of a trial. Annalise tried to argue but judge Maxwell Salinas said the decision was out of his hands.

Nate Jr. met with his dad to break the news and his dad thought he was lying about the real reason. Connor and Michaela were arguing about the case again when Connor realised her sudden interest was about getting her name mentioned in the brief. That night, Connor rang Annalise and he and Michaela gave their opinions on how she should start her argument. She told them they were borh good ideas before hanging up because Bonnie was at her door about thedeath of Stella Roa investigation. Later Annalise wrote the brief.

At the Supreme Court, she was kept waiting for over an hour before it was time for her to present the brief. The judges ruled against her and she told Nate that night. When the Keating 4 found out, Michaela came up with an idea and went to see Annalise in her hotel. She told her to appeal to the 'real' Supreme Court. Annalise said there was no chance that would happen but Michaela insisted that she needed to ask for help from somebody who had power, influence and fixed probems. The next day Annalise attended a lecture that Olivia Pope was holding. ("Ask Him About Stella")

Introducing Olivia Pope

Annalise and Olivia, inside a hotel in Washington, began their final prep. They were briefly distracted by Ingrid Egan on the TV, prompting Olivia to tell Annalise that it was 'kill or be killed'. Nate Jr. told his dad the case was going to be heard at the Supreme Court and that he was needed at the table. The next day Olivia told Annalise the ACLU, NAACP and Public Counsel were all offering to come on board as a result of Egan's TV interview. Annalise told her she didn't want any help but Olivia told her sne needed to think about it. Later when the two met again, Annalise told her she still planned to do it alone. Olivia was actualy happy to hear but told Annalise the opposing counsel was 'all about it'. She said Egan was trading informarion with one of the justices and she tasked Marcus Walker and Michaela with finding out which one. Then her parents showed up and insisted on having a meal. Later when Nate arrived, Olivia got annoyed at Annalise because the face case was her ex-boyfriend's father.

The next day, the Keating 4 + Oliver met in the courthouse with Marcus and she realised the pizza guy they saw deliver to Egan was with Justice Strickland, meaning that Egan and Strickland were working together. Marcus and Michaela told Olivia this and at the same time, Jacqueline Roa got a hold of Annalise by a blocked number and told her that Isaac was in the hospital with a failing kidney. Annalise broke down and Olivia tried to give her a pep talk. She asked what Annalise needed to get the job done and she said vodka and told Marcus and Michaela to go and get it. Shortly after, they returned and Annalise was able to get up without needing to drink any. On the way to the courtroom, Olivia told Annalise to be ready for Strickland to gun for her. She then entered the courtroom, seconds before the start time.

Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

In court

"Chief Justice and may it please the Court Until my client, Mr. Nathaniel Lahey, was 9 years old, it was illegal for him to sit at a white-only counter. That changed when Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation. Until he was 18, he had no right to free legal counsel. Gideon v. Wainwright ended that. At 20, Miranda v. Arizona stopped the police from being able to arrest him without informing him of his right to an attorney. With each of these landmark decisions, this Court helped Mr. Lahey get closer to the equality that our constitution promises every citizen in this country. But he's still not there. He's still not equal. Instead, he's the victim of a broken system."

—Annalise Keating

Strickland didn't agree with labelling Nate Sr. as a victim. Annalise said that he was never informed of his right to an appeal and that every public defender he had told him to plead guilty. Justice Montgomery questioned if Annalise was implying that Nate Sr. was not guilty. Annalise continued that Nate Sr. recieved sentences longer than the average man due to his poor counsel and his years in prison, included solitary confinement, which resulted in mental-health issues that led to the murder. Strickland said the only victim was Gerald Reinhoff, the man who died. He was confused why Annalise expected them to feel for a killer and she tried to explain the system made him into a killer but he told her not to interrupt.

Strickland continued that it was a money issue, and Justice Bass told him not to speak for the rest of the justices. Annalise said it was a race issue too, so Strickland said her plaintiffs were getting ineffective counsel because of poor funding or because of their race. Annalise said it was both. Strickland said race had to be the determining factor for it to be considered and after a brief pause Annalise said it was. Strickland said the class action wasn't filed on the grounds of discrimination so race couldn't be considered in the decision and Bass disagreed. The justices began to discuss amongst themselves and Annalise decided to use the rest of her time to prepare her rebuttle.

"Mr. Chief Justice and may it please the Court, Ms. Keating has pulled a bait-and-switch on this Court. The minute she made race the determining factor, she took it out of the purview of this trial"

—Ingrid Egan

Annalise sent Marcus and Michaela to look up a ruling and told them that she would lose without it. Time went by and Egan eventually finished her part with the justices and it was time for Annalise to present her rebuttle. She was slow and hesitant to get up because Michaela and Marcus hadn't returned yet, but by the time she was ready to begin they arrived and handed her what she needed.

"As an arbiter of the law, with whole knowledge of historical jurisprudence in this country, race must always be considered a variable."

—Annalise quoting Strickland

Strickland told her not to waste time presenting arguments she already had, so she corrected that they were his words not hers.

"You wrote them in your 1985 ruling in Bryant v. Topeka, an equal protection case dealing with a state-housing lottery program. Racism is built into the DNA of America. And as long as we turn a blind eye to the pain of those suffering under its oppression, we will never escape those origins. The only safeguard people of color have is the right to a defense, and we won't even give them that. Which means that the promise of civil rights has never been fulfilled. Due to the failure of our justice system, our public defense system in particular, Jim Crow is alive and kicking laws that made it illegal for blacks and whites to be buried in the same cemetery, that categorized people into quadroon and octaroons, that punished a black person for seeking medical attention in a white hospital. Some may claim that slavery has ended. But tell that to the inmates who are kept in cages and told that they don't have any rights at all. People like my client, Nathaniel Lahey, and millions of people like him who are relegated to a subclass of human existence in our prisons. There is no alternative to justice in this case. There is no other option. To decide against my plaintiff is to choose lining the pockets of prison owners over providing basic defense for the people who live in them. And is that the America that this Court really wants to live in? Where money is more important than humanity Where criminality is confused with mental health? The Sixth Amendment was ratified in 1791. It's been 226 years since then. Let's finally guarantee its rights to all of our citizens."

("Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania")

After

Annalise found out on the news that she had won her case. Tensions were high because of Simon Drake and the Antares Files Case but Michaela got him deported to fix the situation. On top of that, Denver had just died in a car accident orchastraed by Jorge Castillo after finding out he had the hard drive. The next step for Annalise would be finding a firm to support her retrying all of the cases on the class action. ("Nobody Else Is Dying")

Plaintiffs

• 91 in total:
  • Nate Lahey, Sr. ("face" of the case)
  • Claudia Gelvin
  • "Gigi"
  • "Luna"
  • Nanda Hashim

Trivia

• Annalise would have had more plaintiffs signed on for her case if it wasn't for Bonnie's interference by giving some of them deals on their cases.

• Before being hired by Soraya on her divorce case, Annalise had $2937.42.

• Just under a month passes between Was She Ever Good at Her Job? and I Love Her. The date on the cheque Annalise uses in Was She Ever Good at Her Job? says February 19th, and in I Love Her, Bonnie checks the visitors log for the prison and the date shows March 13th and by the end of the episode it was early April.

See also

• Timeline
• Jasmine Bromelle Appeal
• Ben Carter Retrial
• Hargrove Children Custody Case
• Civil Asset Forfeiture Case
• Class Action Certification Hearing
• Antares Files Case
• Christopher Castillo Custody Case
• Death of Stella Roa

Appearances

Season 4
"I'm Going Away"	"I'm Not Her"	"It's for the Greater Good"	"Was She Ever Good at Her Job?"
"I Love Her"	"Stay Strong, Mama"	"Nobody Roots for Goliath"	"Live. Live. Live."
"He's Dead"	"Everything We Did Was For Nothing"	"He's a Bad Father"	"Ask Him About Stella"

"Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania"	"The Day Before He Died"	"Nobody Else Is Dying"
Appears in the Scandal episode, "Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself"