Bad Judge!

In British Columbia we are fortunate to have some very fine judges, men and women with great intellect and integrity. But it’s not like that everywhere.

How would you like to appear before the following judges?

In Tennessee a judge continuously played hookey from court to attend to “other matters”. She managed to arrange for other judges to fill in for her. This same judge hired her 19-year-old daughter as a court officer at an attractive salary, even though the young girl had no training or experience. Mom was suspended for negligent conduct and nepotism.

Over in Minnesota, a judge retained a lawyer to act for him in his divorce. At the completion of his case, the judge had outstanding legal fees in the amount of $100,000.00. Shortly afterwards, the judge referred all the court-ordered mediation cases to his divorce lawyer, suggesting that this lucrative work could be set-off against his outstanding legal account. The judge’s ex-wife sounded the alarm to court officials and he was suspended for six months.

Finally, a family law judge in New York insisted that an abused spouse disclose the location of the women’s shelter she had escaped to, despite the fact the woman’s abuser was in court. When the woman and her lawyer refused to divulge the information in open court, the judge railed against the lawyer and fined him $1000.00 for contempt of court.

This same judge decided to pay a hospital visit to a non-party witness in a high-conflict custody case she was presiding over, without the knowledge or consent of the lawyers representing the parties. She too was asked to take a temporary vacation from the bench.

To think that we grouse about our judges when we have to wait more than a few months for Reasons for Judgment to be released. We have nothing to complain about!

Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang