Draft of Ruling Was Sent To Only One Side:
Hours before releasing a combative order that approved the draining of an 88-year-old widow's life savings, a Maricopa County probate judge sent a draft copy of her ruling to the attorneys who stood to benefit - a violation of the judges' ethics code.
One of those attorneys responded to the March e-mail and even suggested several changes that were incorporated into Pro-Tem Judge Lindsay Ellis' 21-page ruling.
"I could not be happier," attorney Brenda Church replied, upon getting the proposed order.
I guess not. Church's bill for $333,000 was among bills totaling nearly $800,000 about to be approved by Ellis.
Three other attorneys - Lauren Garner and Jerome Elwell who were working for the Sun Valley Group, and Brian Theut, the old lady's guardian ad litem - also received Ellis' draft ruling. None of them reported Ellis to the Commission on Judicial Conduct or notified the attorneys representing Marie Long and her sisters of the improper "ex-parte" communication. Such contacts are a violation of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct.
Presiding Probate Judge Karen O'Connor, who twice last year rejected requests to disqualify Ellis from the case due to bias, has ordered a hearing into the matter, which came to light late last week.
Full Article and Source:
Probate Judge's E-Mail Raises Eyebrows
See Also:
Probate Judge Violates Ethics Code
6 comments:
Yes this is what is going on.
In New Jersey Judge Chrystal with her orders does not give written reason for her orders it just says see records so they can fudge things if necessary.
Judge John F. Malone makes his records nice and clean by refusing to take motions and returns everything to the victim so there is no trace of objection in his files. Nice and tidy
Anonymous, that's a filthy judge trick attempting to cause you more fees for getting a lawyer to file a motion for findings of fact and conclusions of law.
Judge Chrystal is a poor excuse for a judge.
Ex-parte. Boy am I familiar with that. In my case, the judge had an ex-parte meeting with my opposing lawyers, AND THEN he turned on the tape recorder!
Maricopa County needs to be disinfected and cleaned out.
Judge Lindsay Ellis should be investigated and de-benched.
I just bet Brenda Church couldn't be happier -- and somehow, she can still sleep at night.
The lawyers got fat and Marie Long got the shaft.
Now, what's the judicial commission going to do about that?
The public isn't going to stand for this.
Post a Comment