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| Theresa Mullen testifies in Superior Court in Newark in this August 2017 file photo.(NJ Advance Media) |
By Kevin Shea
A former Superior Court judge in Union County who was charged with violating judicial rules, and who a panel recommended removing from the bench, has filed a notice to sue the town of Kenilworth and its police department.
Kenilworth is where Theresa Mullen’s legal troubles started during the 2016-2017 school year, when her daughters attended a Catholic school there and while Mullen was a sitting judge. (Her judgeship ended in October 2021 after Gov. Phil Murphy did not renominate her.)
Mullen’s husband had taken legal action against St. Theresa School for several grievances. One was to put their then 13-year-old daughter on the boys basketball team, after there were not enough girls to form a team. It was successful, the daughter played and the case received significant media attention.
Early the next year, however, the school expelled the children for bringing the school into a legal matter, resulting in another civil lawsuit, and an escalating legal battle between the parents, the school and Archdiocese of Newark.
During a highly-charged confrontation in February 2017, Mullen went to the school and refused to leave while arguing with school officials and Kenilworth police officers - egging them on to arrest her. They did not, but the school filed a defiant trespassing complaint.
A Superior Court judge found her guilty of the trespassing charge in early 2018 following a trial. The state’s Appellate Division later upheld the case.
The incidents also kicked off an investigation by the state’s judicial authorities, the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct (ACJC), which in February 2021 recommended Mullen be removed from the post.
That panel said Mullen abused her position in legal proceedings, violated court orders, obstructed proceedings, and displayed a “demonstrable and pervasive dishonesty.” Given the totality of her conduct, the panel found “no remedy short of removal will properly safeguard the public’s confidence in our system of justice.”
The New Jersey Supreme Court filed notice in September 2021 to move forward with Mullen’s removal, a process which is ongoing and unaffected by her failure to be renominated, a judiciary spokesperson said Thursday.
In her her Jan. 20, 2022 tort claim - a required precursor to filing a lawsuit against a public entity in New Jersey - Mullen names former Police Chief John Zimmerman and three officers.
Each was mentioned several times in the ACJC presentments, which faulted Mullen during their confrontations. Zimmerman is now a Kenilworth councilman.
In the tort filing, Mullen lists a multitude of harms she says she’s suffered, which have ruined her personal and professional lives. Mullen says she suffered financially, starting on Oct. 22, 2021, her last day as judge, as her salary had increased annually over the past several years.
Mullen also accuses Kenilworth police of functioning, “as private security guards and who conducted police business entirely on non-recorded lines.”
Mullen herself signed the tort notice. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kenilworth’s administrator also could not immediately be reached, but towns routinely do not comment on pending or forthcoming suits.
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