Determination Town Justice Should Be Removed from Office Sustained

The Court of Appeals, over a dissent, sustained the State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s finding of misconduct and the determination the non-lawyer town court justice should be removed from office. The essence of the alleged misconduct was that the judge presided over matters involving his friends and relatives without disclosing the relationships. With respect to the judge’s presiding over a traffic-ticket proceeding (seatbelt violation) against a long-time friend and business associate (Johnson), the court wrote:

Although the charge against Johnson was relatively minor, petitioner’s decision to hear a case involving a friend and former employer without even disclosing the existence of the personal relationship to the District Attorney was, under the circumstances presented here, no small matter.  The Rules Governing Judicial Conduct direct that “[a] judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned” (22 NYCRR § 100.3[E][1]).  A judge’s perception of the nature or seriousness of the subject matter of the litigation has no bearing on the duty to recuse or disclose a relationship with a litigant or attorney when necessary to avoid the appearance of bias or favoritism.  Indeed, although petitioner denies giving Johnson preferential treatment, he does not defend his decision to sit on the case and acknowledges in his brief that he made the “wrong choice.”  Matter of George, 249, CtApp 12-10-13