Kirsch, J.
Kenneth Alford (“Alford”), Terry Hasket (“Hasket”), Richard Daniels (“Daniels”), Richard Bunton (“Bunton”), Anthony Owens (“Owens”), Keith Nye (“Nye”), and Wardell Strong (“Strong”) (together, “the Appellants”), who are seven men charged with crimes in Johnson County, Indiana and were assigned public defenders to represent them during their criminal proceedings, appeal the dismissal of their complaint against the Johnson County Commissioners, the judges who preside over criminal cases in Johnson County, and the individual attorneys who had contracts to act as public defenders in Johnson County. The Appellants appeal from the dismissal of their complaint, in which they alleged that the rights of indigent criminal defendants under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, section 13 of the Indiana Constitution are being ignored in Johnson County because the attorneys assigned as public defenders by the trial judges are burdened by unmanageable caseloads and are, therefore, not providing actual assistance of counsel as required by the United States Constitution and the Indiana Constitution. They raise the following dispositive issue for our review: whether the Appellants sufficiently alleged facts to support their claims for relief under the United States and Indiana Constitutions and their third-party beneficiary breach of contract claim such that the trial court erred when it dismissed their complaint.
We affirm.
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Each of the Appellants in this case is an indigent defendant and was charged with at least one felony in the Johnson County Courts. The cases of six of the Appellants, Alford, Hasket, Daniels, Bunton, Nye, and Strong, are still pending before the Johnson County Courts. Owens entered into a plea agreement, the details of which are not included in the record. A public defender has been appointed to represent each of the Appellants. The Appellants’ complaint names five attorneys (together, “the Public Defenders”) that were assigned, at various times, to the seven named Appellants. Appellants’ App. Vol. II at 57-60. The attorneys who act as public defenders in Johnson County act in that capacity in addition to maintaining their own private practices. The complaint makes allegations against the Public Defenders in two general areas: (1) caseload in 2014 (the year prior to when Appellants were arrested and charged); and (2) deficiencies in performance as counsel.
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The Appellants argue that the trial court erred when it dismissed their complaint for failure to state a claim. They contend that the public defender system in Johnson County systematically deprives indigent people of the right to counsel and that the rights of indigent criminal defendants under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, section 13 of the Indiana Constitution are being ignored in Johnson County because the attorneys assigned as public defenders by the trial judges are burdened by unmanageable caseloads and are, therefore, not providing actual assistance of counsel as required by the United States Constitution and the Indiana Constitution. The Appellants assert that the trial court erred in dismissing their complaint against both the Judicial Appellees and the Non-Judicial Appellees because their complaint sufficiently alleged violations of their rights under both Constitutions, which are attributable to the Judicial Appellees and the Johnson County Commissioners. Further, the Appellants maintain that they adequately alleged a third-party beneficiary breach of contract claim against the Public Defenders and the Judicial Appellees.
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We, therefore, conclude that the Public Defenders’ contracts at issue here do not support the complaint as alleged. The Public Defenders have an obligation pursuant to the contracts to not undertake too great a workload, such that they are able to act with “reasonable diligence and promptness” in their representation of clients. Id. The Appellants’ complaint does not allege that the Judicial Appellees have systematically compelled the Public Defenders to accept case assignments and to undertake more work than they can competently handle after the Public Defenders have declined a case assignment due to an excessive workload. The complaint merely alleges that the named Public Defenders have not provided effective assistance to the Appellants, which is an allegation of an individualized claim for relief, and not a claim of a systematic deprivation of constitutional rights. Such individualized claims are better suited for relief pursuant to criminal trial procedures, such as direct appeal, post-conviction relief, or petition for writ of habeas corpus relief, or legal malpractice actions against their individual attorneys, but these avenues can be pursued only after a claim has actually ripened.
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We, therefore, conclude that the Appellants have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. On the facts alleged in the complaint, including the language of the Public Defenders’ contracts, it is the Public Defenders who are responsible for any deficient representation, and any alleged deficient representation is not attributable to either the Judicial Appellees or the Johnson County Commissioners. The complaint did not contain any allegations that the Judicial Appellees or the Johnson County Commissioners were compelling the Public Defenders to take on a heavier caseload than they could handle. The trial court did not err when it dismissed the Appellants’ complaint pursuant to Trial Rule 12(B)(6) for failure to state a claim as to the claims under the Sixth Amendment and Article 1, section 13 of the Indiana Constitution.
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Affirmed.
Najam, J., and Brown, J., concur