A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that a lawyer who represents criminal defendants in Sussex County is disqualified from representing the sheriff in a civil suit against the county’s freeholder board.

The appeals court affirmed a trial judge’s ruling disqualifying attorney George Daggett from representing Sussex County Sheriff Michael Strada. The panel rejected Daggett’s reasoning that the Supreme Court’s elimination of the appearance of impropriety standard in 2003 should alter the application of R. 1:15, which sets limitations on the practices of attorneys.