THE EVOLUTION OF JUDICIAL TYRANNY IN THE UNITED STATES:

"If the judges interpret the laws themselves, and suffer none else to interpret, they may easily make, of the laws, [a shredded] shipman's hose!" - King James I of England, around 1616.

“No class of the community ought to be allowed freer scope in the expression or publication of opinions as to the capacity, impartiality or integrity of judges than members of the bar. They have the best opportunities of observing and forming a correct judgment. They are in constant attendance on the courts. Hundreds of those who are called on to vote never enter a court-house, or if they do, it is only at intervals as jurors, witnesses or parties. To say that an attorney can only act or speak on this subject under liability to be called to account and to be deprived of his profession and livelihood by the very judge or judges whom he may consider it his duty to attack and expose, is a position too monstrous to be entertained for a moment under our present system,” Justice Sharwood in Ex Parte Steinman and Hensel, 95 Pa 220, 238-39 (1880).

“This case illustrates to me the serious consequences to the Bar itself of not affording the full protections of the First Amendment to its applicants for admission. For this record shows that [the rejected attorney candidate] has many of the qualities that are needed in the American Bar. It shows not only that [the rejected attorney candidate] has followed a high moral, ethical and patriotic course in all of the activities of his life, but also that he combines these more common virtues with the uncommon virtue of courage to stand by his principles at any cost.

It is such men as these who have most greatly honored the profession of the law. The legal profession will lose much of its nobility and its glory if it is not constantly replenished with lawyers like these. To force the Bar to become a group of thoroughly orthodox, time-serving, government-fearing individuals is to humiliate and degrade it.” In Re Anastaplo, 18 Ill. 2d 182, 163 N.E.2d 429 (1959), cert. granted, 362 U.S. 968 (1960), affirmed over strong dissent, 366 U.S. 82 (1961), Justice Black, Chief Justice Douglas and Justice Brennan, dissenting.

" I do not believe that the practice of law is a "privilege" which empowers Government to deny lawyers their constitutional rights. The mere fact that a lawyer has important responsibilities in society does not require or even permit the State to deprive him of those protections of freedom set out in the Bill of Rights for the precise purpose of insuring the independence of the individual against the Government and those acting for the Government”. Lathrop v Donohue, 367 US 820 (1961), Justice Black, dissenting.

"The legal profession must take great care not to emulate the many occupational groups that have managed to convert licensure from a sharp weapon of public defense into blunt instrument of self-enrichment". Walter Gellhorn, "The Abuse of Occupational Licensing", University of Chicago Law Review, Volume 44 Issue 1, September of 1976.

“Because the law requires that judges no matter how corrupt, who do not act in the clear absence of jurisdiction while performing a judicial act, are immune from suit, former Judge Ciavarella will escape liability for the vast majority of his conduct in this action. This is, to be sure, against the popular will, but it is the very oath which he is alleged to have so indecently, cavalierly, baselessly and willfully violated for personal gain that requires this Court to find him immune from suit”, District Judge A. Richard Caputo in H.T., et al, v. Ciavarella, Jr, et al, Case No. 3:09-cv-00286-ARC in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Document 336, page 18, November 20, 2009. This is about judges who were sentencing kids to juvenile detention for kickbacks.


Sunday, August 2, 2015

Quo vadis, Carl Becker?

According to the rules of professional discipline in New York, an attorney must change register any changes in his/her mailing address within 30 days of the actual change.

As of July 31, 2015 Carl Becker officially retired from his position of the Delaware County County/Family/Surrogate's Court judge.

As of today, August 2, 2015, he is still registered as an attorney at his old, judicial address.





Carl Becker has until August 30, 2015 to change his attorney registration address.

Let's see whether he will comply with the rules of registration.

Let's also see who will embrace the retired judge who was a disgrace to the bench for his entire judicial career by accepting him into a law practice.

So, where are you going, Carl Becker?  The law requires you to answer that question and to publish the answer for the public to see.

I will follow up on this.

Stay tuned.

Way to go, Gary Rosa!

A reader has recently pointed out to me that Gary Rosa is not active in his judicial campaign for the position of Delaware County/Family court judge (in New York).

I double-checked on the web - and was pleasantly surprised that the contrary is true.

Judicial candidate Gary Rosa is not only active, but is delivering rightly deserved criticism for the judicial candidate Porter Kirkwood for signing contracts for millions of taxpayer dollars where contracts were never subjected to bidding system, which is the ULTIMATE CORRUPTION.

Here is the newspaper report with a fuller account of Gary Rosa's criticism of Porter Kirkwood - which is all true and all fair, I must add.

As I stated in private and in public before, I know Gary Rosa as a Middletown town justice, through my appearance in front of him.

One thing that must be said about Gary Rosa as a judge is that, unlike his opponent Porter Kirkwood, he is a straight shooter, with an even temperament and rulings on the law, not upon wishes of the judge's buddies.

Porter Kirkwood is a political animal who is corrupt to his core, as more and more evidence of his dealings, as the recent audit of the Delaware County demonstrated, and as the recent news that Delaware County police, probation and prosecution are all financed out of conviction fines, with the blessings of both judicial candidates from the Republican party - Porter Kirkwood and Richard Northrup.

As a Republican myself, I wonder - can't the Republican party find somebody honest to run for a judge?

For shame!

And, by the way, Carl Becker in his campaign where he allegedly "eked" out a victory over Gary Rosa (through fraudulent statements to the voters and, possibly, through manipulation of ballots by the Delaware County Board of Elections controlled by Becker for years to the point that it submitted a false certificate of his prior elections in 2011 when no underlying documents to back up such a certification existed) pounded on his superior experience as a judge.

Yet, as Gary Rosa correctly stated to his electorate, he is the only candidate in the current judicial race who has ANY experience as a judge, and his ANY experience is not one, not two years, but 23 years on the bench and, I must add, unblemished years.

Gary Rosa is an absolutely superior candidate over the corrupt Porter Kirkwood.

As to the corrupt Richard Northrup who runs against nobody, "nobody" is a better candidate for a judge than Richard Northrup.

Delaware County District Attorney's office to critics of judicial misconduct: your life is forfeit

I have so far three episodes so far indicating that the Delaware County District Attorney's office would not investigate and prosecute violent crimes committed against local critics of judicial misconduct and, in one case, prosecuted the victim instead of the perpetrator of such a violent crime.

Three episodes, in my mind, constitutes a pattern.

The first episode happened in 2010.

A U.S. Marine Ryan Adams (now a reservist for the Marines whose location at this time, with his daughter, the granddaughter of Barbara O'Sullivan, upon information and belief, remains unknown since he absconded with the minor child without notifying the mother or the custody court of his current address, and the FBI is somehow not trying to locate him - and I wonder whether the reluctance to issue an Amber alert and treat Ryan Adam's behavior as parental kidnapping is due to the favoritism displayed to him by various courts because of he is a former U.S. Marine, a U.S. Marine reservist and because of his family connections to various U.S. senators and/or senator candidates), made a death threat against Barbara O'Sullivan on the phone some time in May of 2010.  Since Ryan Adams had a history of violence before that, Barbara O'Sullivan perceived the threat as believable and notified the police and the military authorities.

The military authorities immediately issued an order of protection against Ryan Adams.

The Delhi Village Police Department considered the evidence of the death threat serious and substantial enough to bring criminal charges against Ryan Adams in Delhi Town court before judge Richard Gumo.

At that time, a custody proceeding was pending in the Delaware County Family Court pertaining to Barbara O'Sullivan's granddaughter.

Barbara O'Sullivan was not a party to the proceedings.

Ryan Adams was represented at that time in custody proceedings by a attorney William Brenner who previously ran against Hillary Clinton for the position of U.S. Senator for the State of New York on a Republican ticket.

Becker is a Republican.

Ryan Adams retained for representation in his criminal case attorney Michael McGuire out of Sullivan County who has become a judge during representation of Ryan Adams and who was similarly running, and was eventually elected, on a Republican ticket.

Michael McGuire announced his run for the position of Sullivan County Family Court judge in March of 2010, long before he undertook representation of Ryan Adams in his criminal case.

In September of 2010, without waiting for the disposition of the criminal case in People v. Ryan Adams in the Delhi Town Court, Judge Becker made a ruling in the custody proceedings giving custody to Ryan Adams, who was still under criminal proceedings for making a death threat against the grandmother of his child, punished the mother of the child (who was known to him for making a report against him regarding his misconduct in the Glenford Hull murder trial in talking to the jury during deliberations and demonstrating how a gun works) with extremely burdensome visitation, and punishing the grandmother who was the ALLEGED VICTIM in a pending, unadjudicated criminal proceedings in Delhi Town Court against Ryan Adams by directing the mother that she should not allow grandmother near the child.

The only basis for Becker's order like that was the pending unadjudicated criminal proceedings agaisnt Ryan Adams, which could be adjudicated only by the court where the proceedings were commenced, Delhi Town Court, yet, Becker made his own adjudication.

Senior ADA John Hubbard promised Barbara O'Sullivan, the alleged victim in the criminal proceedings against Ryan Adams, that she will be notified and be able to be present if any disposition in the case is about to be reached, in order to be able to oppose it and address the court.

Yet, Senior ADA John Hubbard misrepresented to Barbara O'Sullivan the time of appearance for Ryan Adams in such a way that, when Barbara O'Sullivan appeared in court, Ryan Adams was already given an "Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal" for 6 months.

John Hubbard reacted to Barbara O'Sullivan's indignation at his misconduct by the question why Barbara O'Sullivan hired Tatiana Neroni (myself) to represent her daughter in the custody proceedings, and that if Judge Becker previously gave custody to the father, he must be right.

Of course, neither of these issue have anything to do with the criminal proceedings against Ryan Adams.

Of course, John Hubbard who purchased the law office building and, possibly, the law practice from Carl Becker in 2002 when he first came to the bench, and who obviously was led in his prosecutorial duties by what Judge Becker, and not John Hubbard's duty as a prosecutor, dictated John Hubbard to do, indicated strong grounds for disqualification of John Hubbard from the case People v. Ryan Adams.

In plain English, it was none of John Hubbard's business who is hired to represent whom in the Family Court custody proceedings.   It is simply irrelevant to the criminal prosecution in front of him.

In plain English, it was non of John Hubbard's business whether Judge Becker was or was not correct granting custody to Ryan Adams, since Ryan Adams was not prosecuted for anything related to custody, but for his death threat agaisnt the grandmother, a separate and distinct criminal offense.

Barbara O'Sullivan later filed with the Delhi Town Court, Judge Gumo, documents showing that Ryan Adams violated his ACD.

Judge Gumo disregarded the filing and let the proceedings against Ryan Adams to be dismissed - long after Ryan Adams' attorney of record has become a judge and without any substitution of counsel due to such judgeship.

In my legal opinion, the dismissal of criminal proceedings agaisnt Ryan Adams under the circumstances and at the time when Ryan Adams' attorney became a judge and could no longer represent Ryan Adams, indicates that the dismissal was unlawful and void and that the criminal proceedings in People v Ryan Adams must still be pending in Delhi Town Court.

John Hubbard's willingness to dismiss a criminal proceeding against a perpetrator of a death threat against an middle-aged woman simply because she hired me to represent her daughter in a custody proceeding in front of Carl Becker speaks volumes about integrity of the DA's office in Delaware County.

In fact, that dismissal was not the only misconduct John Hubbard committed in that case, People v. Ryan Adams.

At the time when charges were brought and filed agaisnt Ryan Adams, Ryan Adams resided out of the State of New York and could be arrested within the State of New York only when he came for court appearances in Family Court.

Naturally, if a criminal defendant is forewarned about a newly filed criminal charge, he could have skipped appearing in Family Court, allowing his attorney to proceed without him.

John Hubbard WARNED Ryan Adams that criminal charges were filed against him by sending to him a "Notice of Readiness for trial", BEFORE Ryan Adams was arrested and arraigned.

This is a "highly irregular" conduct by the prosecutor and, in my legal opinion, misconduct designed to warn Ryan Adams of criminal charges and prepare for the arrest.

Ryan Adams did prepare.  He came to court with his highly influential stepfather, his Senator-candidate attorney, and he was not locked up as he should have been due to the nature of his crime.

John Hubbard was not disciplined for his misconduct.

Moreover,  I am more than sure that, if the present DA Richard Northrup gets elected as a judge, John Hubbard will be placed in his stead as a District Attorney of Delaware County, at least for the first year, as a matter of temporary appointment, because prosecutorial misconduct in New York is a matter of course that is not addressed by disciplinary authorities as a matter of policy, which recently prompted a series of articles about that unspoken policy by ProPublica.org, and a proposed legislature to institute a separate commission to address prosecutorial misconduct, since the "regular" attorney disciplinary committees would not prosecute prosecutors.

Episode No. 2. happened in September of 2013 and continues to present time

It is well known now from my blog that I was and continue to be an active, eloquent and detailed critic of misconduct of Carl Becker who quickly retired from the bench on July 31, 2015 before his term expired and years before his retirement was required by mandatory retirement age.

I have been such a critic for years.

As I indicated above, John Hubbard, the Senior ADA, and the Delaware County District Attorney's office, would rather agree to the dismissal of criminal proceedings against a perpetrator of a death threat when the alleged victim is a critic of judicial misconduct who hired me to represent her daughter in a custody proceeding in front of Carl Becker, who sold to John Hubbard his law office and, likely, law business, in 2002.

A couple of years ago, my house was burglarized, and, as a warning to me, a burning cigarette was left on the floor of my bedroom which was located in such a place in the house that was not easily accessible by a stranger to the house.

We were at the house that day for the entire day, the only window of opportunity to do that was 3 hours when I went to appear in court in an adjoining county.

Only one person knew that we will be away.

Only one person, who knew that we will be away at that time, was on good enough terms with our border collie so that the border collie would welcome him into the house instead of attacking him.

The cigarette contained (or should have contained) DNA evidence of who was the perpetrator.

Valuables disappeared from the house, but that was not the main thing.   The main thing was the threat that I perceived from seeing a burning cigarette on the floor of my bedroom when I did not see it a couple of hours when I left the house.

Only my husband and I were in the house and in that bedroom at all times and on that day.

Neither one of us are smokers.

The cigarette in question was given to the police who were summoned to the house.

I made a direct report to the District Attorney's office, as well as to the Delhi Police.

The perpetrator was allowed to disappear without a trace, while the police had an opportunity to prosecute him (he lived nearby for months after our report).

The evidence, the cigarette, as far as I know, also disappeared and was never analyzed, even though at first the Delhi Police and John Hubbard pretended they were doing something.

I now am having back thoughts about what happened.

I now believe that the individual in question was directed to leave that burning cigarette on the floor of my bedroom, as a warning to me that my house is not safe, and to be "careful".

In the alternative, the DA's office deliberately would not protect critics of governmental misconduct, making them feel unsafe in their homes in Delaware County, even when the DA's office has the evidence matching to the perpetrator, and the perpetrator who confessed.

The refusal of the Delaware County District Attorney and John Hubbard to prosecute the known perpetrator of a violent crime (home intrusion) against me as a critic of the local judge, clicks into a pattern when one considers refusal to prosecute Ryan Adams, as described above.

Episode No. 3 happened in September of 2014 and continues to present time

On September 5, 2014, upon report of Barbara O'Sullivan to me on that same day, Barbara O'Sullivan was assaulted with a police vehicle by Delaware County Deputy Sheriff Derek Bowie.

The assault occurred at the time and because Barbara O'Sullivan was videotaping misconduct of Derek Bowie on her property, Derek Bowie tried to smash the tablet that was in the hands of Barbara O'Sullivan, even at the cost of potential injury of death of Barbara O'Sullivan.

The Delaware County District Attorney that employs the uncle of Derek Bowie, prosecutes Barbara O'Sullivan, the victim of the deadly assault by Derek Bowie, instead of Derek Bowie.

The Delaware County District Attorney never disclosed his office's disqualification to the grand jury where he obtained an indictment which is (in my legal opinion) void due to presence of a disqualified person in the grand jury.  Instead, the DA Richard Northrup (a current judicial candidate) not only proceeds with prosecution of Barbara O'Sullivan without disclosure of his office's disqualification, but "coincidentally" various people involved with the legal profession and the local government "approach" Barbara O'Sullivan and her family members with various threats that if she does not drop the civil lawsuit against Derek Bowie, she will get "locked up".

The pattern that arises out of these episodes clearly speaks to the unwritten policy of the local government in Delaware County, and especially of the local District Attorney's office (where the District Attorney currently running for a judge) - if you criticize misconduct of the local government, especially of local judges, your life is forfeit.  The DA's office will not prosecute perpetrators of violent crimes against you, but there is a good possibility that a crime will be invented and you will be prosecuted for a crime against your perpetrators.

And that is not the rule of law, ladies and gentlemen, but the rule of the jungle - which will be perpetuated if the current District Attorney Richard Northrup who obviously maintains this unwritten policy becomes a judge.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Is the "right" of the government to hire dumb brutes for the police force, affirmed as a matter of constitutional law in the 2nd Circuit 15 years ago, responsible for the widespread wave of police brutality across the country?

I've recently blogged about the little scheme in Delaware County where prosecutors, police and probation officers are paid out of conviction fines through a "STOP DWI" program.

As much as it was pounded to the public as "savings" for taxpayers, it is a blatant constitutional violation that is geared to increase numbers of convictions without any regard to their legitimacy or constitutionality.

I've also blogged about incompetence and corruption in the Delaware County Sheriff's Department where police officer Derek Bowie who has been engaged in a vehicular assault upon a resident, a middle-aged disabled woman, and did that clearly in retaliation for her stance against misconduct in the government on the County level and in local courts.

I questioned more than once how can a police officer, or other public officials involved, be so DUMB as to not realize that their corruptness is quite transparent through their actions?

Well, I now found the root of the question.

Not only police officers in Delaware County are corrupt, incompetent and dumb, but the federal constitutional law in that jurisdiction allows the local government to sieve out smart applicants for police officer positions as a matter of intentional discrimination.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, 15 years ago (!), found that discrimination against applicants for the police force with a high IQ level.

Here is that brain-dead decision, in full glory.

Now, this is a galore for criminal defense attorneys... This "law" gives defense attorneys legitimate grounds to seek IQ scores of police officers in application for the position.  And, if that is not a discrimination against an applicant, that is clearly a constitutional issue for members of the public who are stopped, investigated, prosecuted and put in jail by police officers picked out BECAUSE THEY ARE DUMB!

Wow.

Names of the "winner" judges of the 2nd Circuit who produced this masterpiece back in 2000 are:

  • The Hon. Jon O. Newman - still on the court and was even chief judge of the 2nd Circuit court from 1993 to 1997.  Judge Newman got his bachelor's degree in 1953, which puts his age at 69 at the time of his "IQ discrimination is constitutional" decision in 2000, and at 84 years of age now.
  • The Hon. Rosemary S. Pooler, Circuit Judges - is still on the court, in an active status.  Judge Pooler recevied her bachelor's degree in 1959.  That puts her at about 63 years of age when she made the decision in the "IQ case", 15 years ago, and 78 years old now.
  • The Hon. Lloyd D. George,* District Judge - is still on the Nevada District Court.  Since judge George reportedly received his bachelor's degree in 1955, and bachelors degrees are received usually at the age of 22, his date of birth is approximately 1933, 67 years of age or more at the time he made the "IQ case" decision, and at 83 years of age now.


* Honorable Lloyd D. George of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, sitting by designation.

The "trio" above affirmed, in a summary unpublished opinion, the decision of the Hon. Peter C. Dorsey, Senior United States District Judge - who died in 2012 at the age of 80.

Think about it!

All of these seniors making all of these CLEARLY DUMB decisions - while proclaiming the government's right to discriminate against the intelligent people in matters of employment!

How many lawyers argued, with a straight face, that intentionally putting in a ceiling blocking intelligent individuals from being employed on the police force is constitutional and is not violation of equal protection rights!

4 (four!) judges agreed!

Agreed that the government has a "state interest" to intentionally "dumb down" police force that is armed and is supposed to be able to make split-second judgment calls about life or death of citizens, your life or death.

After this decision, why NOT expect police brutality after that? 

Why NOT expect dumb actions of police, like chasing shoplifters at ungodly speeds, that take away lives of innocent bystanders (2,400 innocent bystanders were reportedly killed in the US in a 35-year span as a result of high-speed police chases alone)?

Why NOT expect police to use their weapons, their TASERS, their vehicles, as tools of abuse of those they simply do not like?

Don't you think that this decision, and decisions like that may be responsible for the wide spread and ever spreading police brutality - because employing dumb brutes on the police force is the POLICY of the government?  And NOT employing intelligent people is also the POLICY of the government - to prevent job turnover!

I think the same test is actually applied to judgeships and attorney jobs for the government.  

I remember how a retired judge from the Appellate Division 3rd Department (he is a local of Walton, NY, an ardent supporter of Carl Becker), Judge Carl Mugglin, told me, without having any record in front of him, and without having any basis to "rule" at an appellate settlement conference - "you will dig a hole for your clients, Mrs. Neroni, with your intellectual efforts".

I was stunned, my female client was stunned, but obviously, with all my legal education, I did not know about the case, it was not taught in our Civil Rights litigation class in law school, my law school professors did not impress on me that being smart may prevent you from getting a job in the government!

The last question - if judges would apply their own "discrimination on the IQ basis is constitutional" test to themselves, would they have passed the test?  

I bet they would.

The NYS Court Administration adamantly refuses to answer my question pertaining to waivers of filing fees in O'Sullivan v Bowie

I blogged recently about fee waivers provided by courts to people who are in no way adjudicated as poor persons, who are sued in their individual capacity, not as officials of governmental entities and where the only reason for waivers appears to be bias of the court and favors given to litigants associated with the government or litigants whose opponents are critics of judicial misconduct.

I filed a FOIL request today with the New York State Court Administration seeking information about:

(1) policies as to fee waivers, and
(2) records pertaining to all fees paid or waived in the case of Barbara O'Sullivan v Derek Bowie (a police officer), in his individual capacity, for vehicular assault and battery, Delaware County Index No. 2014-911.

Here is my entire exchange with the NYS Court Administration pertaining to that FOIL request:








Let's note that NYS Court Administration claims that:

1) I am not seeking records subject to FOIL, because records I am seeking are allegedly "judicial records";
2) that I am asking NYS Court Administration, under the guise of FOIL, to conduct legal research which NYS Court Administration does not have to do for me; and
3) that denial of my FOIL request is not even appealable.

First of all, administering fees for the handling of a case is not strictly a judicial duty, and thus, any records pertaining to such fees are not judicial records taking such records from the reach of FOIL requirements.

Second, NYS Court Administration sends me to the do my own legal research and to consult the law and court rules on court websites.  

Well, I did, actually before I made the FOIL request.

As an attorney, I know the law.

As a diligent attorney, I double-checked the law and the rules before FOILing.

Here is the fee schedule of New York courts.

New York City Civil Court is even more specific than the general Unified New York Court system, it provides statutory authority for every filing fee it requires litigants to pay.

Here is the official explanation by the court system as to which cases require the Request for Judicial Intervention fee of $95 and which cases do not require such a fee.

Barbara O'Sullivan v Derek Bowie's case definitely required payment of an RJI fee.  I was advised that such a fee was waived to Derek Bowie by Delaware County Clerk's office - and, as a taxpayer, attorney and litigant, I want to know  - on what legal grounds was the waiver given?

Here is the statutory authority for filing fees in New York State Supreme Court:


  • a court order adjudicating a litigant as a poor person, CPLR 1101.  
  • waivers to public entities (the government) or public officials sued in their official capacity - I did not find authority for that, but do not deny a possibility that such a basis exists, on the rationale that when a public entity defends in a lawsuit, it spends taxpayer money, and thus fee waiver would be appropriate.


Here is the Unified Court System's rule/policy pertaining to fee waivers for poor persons (only that ground).

The Mokay plaintiffs who were given a waiver by Judge Kevin Dowd of a trial note of issue fee, were not adjudicated as poor persons, nor did they apply for such a fee waiver on that ground, or at all.

Derek Bowie, in O'Sullivan v. Bowie, did not apply for a fee waiver either, is not an indigent person, being a police officer on the payrol of Delaware County Sheriff's Department, and was sued in his individual capacity for misconduct, which does not trigger any waivers meant for the government.

That was the reason for my question - if all laws, rules and policies were not followed in these cases, what are the real policies for fee waivers in New York?

The New York State Court Administration answered me that it does not owe me - or any other litigant, citizen and taxpayer of the State of New York - an answer to that question.

Yet, since every paying (or non-payment and waiver where payment must be made) is followed by a paper trail, I have made yet another FOIL request, now to the Delaware County Treasurer, for copies of records pertaining to filing fees put into the court account.

I have also FOILed the New York State Comptroller for the filing fees collected from the case Barbara O'Sullivan v Derek Bowie.  

I will hold my breath for the answers.

The government clearly does not like being caught red-handed in misconduct, specifically, in favoritism in favor of a police officer, even if he is sued for vehicular assault by his victim, and in retaliation against the critic of judicial misconduct, even in such petty issues such as charging her, but not the perpetrator of a vehicular assault against her, filing fees in civil litigation.

When a court system brazenly gives gifts of fee waivers to governmental officials, sued in their individual capacities for committing egregious misconduct against citizens - that demonstrates more than anything else that courts in New York are not neutral, unbiased and fair, as they are supposed to be, and are not governed by the rule of law, as they are supposed to be.


And that's why, when you can, as a voter, exclude from the bench people who you know will only contribute to the ongoing misconduct in the court system, it is absolutely necessary to do that.

Because that's your only chance to improve the judicial system - apart from the lengthy and mostly unsuccessful process of petitioning the intentionally deaf and blind government.


Thursday, July 30, 2015

Let's FOIL the NYS Court Administration for its policies regarding waivers of filing fees

By law, Delaware County Clerk is the court clerk accepting filings for the Delaware County and Supreme Courts.

By law, filings for assigning a judge (RJI number) and filing a motion require, respectively, a $95.00 and a $45.00 filing fee.

No judge will be assigned unless you pay $95.00 with the RJI (Request For Judicial Intervention).

The Delaware County Clerk will not accept from you a notice of motion unless you pay a filing fee of $45.

That is, not unless you are an employee of Delaware County sued in his individual capacity in a civil action for misconduct.

Filing fees in court may be waived only to government entities.

Yet, in Delaware County there were two incidents when filing fees were waived to private parties.

First, Judge Kevin Dowd waived a note of issue fee to son-of-a-judge attorney Richard Harlem in the case Mokay v. Mokay (against my husband who sued Judge Dowd).

There is no basis in the law for such a waiver, but that's what Judge Dowd did anyway.

Second, Delaware County Clerk's office, with or without permission from Judge John Lambert, upon information and belief, waived all fees (RJI and motion fees) to police officer Derek Bowie sued in his individual capacity for intentional misconduct, vehicular assault and battery, Delaware County Index No. 2014-911, O'Sullivan v Bowie.

Derek Bowie is represented by attorney Frank Miller, an attorney who some time ago conducted "hearings" for Delaware County regarding misconduct of yet another police officer, without disclosing to the public that he is not acting as a neutral investigator (as most of the people who came to testify in front of him or talk to him thought), but an attorney hired by Delaware County's insurance company to protect the County from liability.

When I pointed that out to Mr. Miller, he tried to intimidate me not to go any further with raising the issues of his conflicts of interest, because Mr. Miller was concerned for his allegedly perfect "Martindale" score.

Mr. Miller's office seems very familiar with the local courts, to the point of obtaining waivers that their client, police officer sued in his individual capacity, was not entitled to.

To me, improper waiver of a filing fee by the County Clerk to the County employee sued for misconduct in individual capacity is nothing less than an improper gift showing corruption of the court personnel and bias against the police officer's opponent requiring the change of venue and disqualification of the judge, if he ok'd such a "waiver" - not to mention a misconduct investigation against all participants in such a "waiver" that gives the public the appearance that courts' favors in New York can be bought.

In both cases the recipients of the benefits are favored attorneys and in both cases the opponents of the favored recipients of the benefits (fee waivers) are critics of judicial misconduct.

It is a pattern, isn't it?

For that reason, and to clear up the issue - which litigants are and which litigants are not entitled to fee waivers in New York courts in civil actions - I encourage the public to file Freedom of Information requests with the NYS Court Administration to ask the administration to provide, within 5 business days, as required by law:

1) records of financial documents documenting payments of filing fees in O'Sullivan v Bowie, Delaware County Index No. 2014-911;

2) policies of the NYS Court Administration regarding waivers of filing fees, and eligibility for such waivers.

At least, NYS Court Administration should then scratch its collective head to answer the question.

Let's hold our collective breaths to see what they have to say.

Ascension to the bench through intimidation? Turf wars in Delaware County continue...

I recently blogged about the turf wars in Delaware County, and also about the perverse financial incentives that the Delaware County put in place for its prosecutors, police and probation officers - with the blessing of the two attorneys, public officials, who are currently running for judicial positions, one in replacement of the outgoing (better say "outrunning") Judge Becker, and another - to fill the new position that the Delaware County begged and received from New York State, even though judicial caseload in Delaware County, upon my information, goes down, not up.

I also blogged about the incidents of intimidation where my friends and their families started to get approached by certain individuals with certain hints and threats to drop lawsuits against a Delaware County policeman, stop blogging "with Tatiana Neroni", whatever that means, OR ELSE.

I have been advised that the intimidation is getting worse, and now, as I understand, whoever is trying to unleash this intimidation campaign is completely losing it and is urging police officers in Delaware County not to do business with my clients, my friends and my friends' and my clients' family members, even though there are not many alternatives to such "doing business" and even though police officers were "doing business" with the businesses in question not for years, but for decades.

I understand that there are more bears than people in Delaware County and that every vote counts.

I understand that people in Delaware County are, on the one hand, usually apathetic to vote, but, on the other hand, during last elections voters showed an interestingly high support for the judicial candidate Gary Rosa, in fact, so high, that at first Gary Rosa was declared a winner of the 2012 judicial elections - before Judge Becker-dominated Election Board recounted the ballots and "eked out a victory".

I understand that Delaware County provides a lot of jobs, and a lot of jobs to relatives and even clans, and that it is easy to pressure a Delaware County employee to "volunteer" for a campaign of a certain judicial candidate or to vote the way the particular judicial candidate with ties to or high-ranking position in Delaware County would want.

But, when a judicial candidate, or individuals acting on his behalf, are so desperate to put that judicial candidate on the bench that they start to getting sloppy, to advertise shady deals as "savings to taxpayers" while in reality they demonstrate that they do not give a rat's ass as to the well-being of the taxpayers or saving their money, it is becoming just a little bit too obvious to the various intimidation incidents as a mere coincidence.

When police officers are encouraged not to purchase certain items and services from Delhi businesses where they were purchasing such items and services for - not years - decades, and when the alternative is to go miles out of Delhi and cost taxpayers additional money, that is not savings, that is putting the paw of the abusers of their governmental position directly in taxpayers' pocket and making taxpayers pay for the fight for the bench and for intimidation campaign against critics of governmental misconduct.

If that is happening before Kirkwood and Northrup saddled those benches, think what will happen after.

The campaign of intimidation unleashed against my friends, clients and family members of friends and clients that happened right after I criticized the two judicial candidates in my blog, with documentary evidence of their misconduct, happened too close in time not to have at least an appearance of a causal relationship.

Moreover, the old rule "who benefits" point to the judicial candidates and Delaware County officials, including the one sued for a vehicular manslaughter and his uncle who works for the DA's office that prosecutes the victim of that assault instead of the perpetrator.

You will not get justice if County Attorney Kirkwood and District Attorney Northrup become judges.

You will simply get more corruption than you have now, and now you have too much already.

Vote against Kirkwood and Northrup.

Address the "eligibility committees" to revoke their eligibility status as judges.

Their ascension to the bench will be a continuing disaster for Delaware County.