by: Andrew Davis
CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) – Being involved in a court case is
stressful enough, but what happens when the judge won’t make a ruling or
move the case forward?
That’s exactly what Chatham County lawyers and defendants have filed
complaints for and now a Chatham County Probate Judge is facing
potential sanctions.
Willful misconduct in office.
Failure to perform the duties of office.
Conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Those are what the Judicial Qualifications Commission of Georgia is
charging Chatham County Probate Judge Tom Bordeaux in a judicial
misconduct investigation.
10 total counts which said that Bordeaux did not handle cases in a timely matter, if at all.
The 10-count document from JQC Director Courtney Veal and Deputy
Director Ashton Murphy allege Bordeaux violated at least two Code of
Judicial Conduct rules.
The Code of Judicial Conduct requires judges to “perform judicial and
administrative duties competently, diligently, and without bias or
prejudice.” Judges are also required to “dispose of all judicial matters
fairly, promptly, and efficiently.”
What Bordeaux is being charged with stems from 9 cases, some that
started soon after he hit the bench in 2016. Case delays ranged from 11
months to more than seven years.
This includes cases that started in January, May and August of 2017.
The documents show Bordeaux holding hearings in those cases,
promising to take care of any issues within days or weeks, but those
dates that he promised decisions passed by. Months, even years tick away
with no orders issued and no decisions made leaving some with no end to
these cases in sight.
“It’s to force the court to do something that they are supposed to do
under their oath when they took that oath,” said Attorney Mark Tate in
2021.
That’s why Tate told News 3 in 2021 that he filed a Writ of Mandamus in connection with one of his cases.
Tate said he wanted to force Bordeaux to make a decision for one of his own clients trying to get some closure.
“Do you feel in a way this judge has broken your trust as well?”
“Oh yeah. he’s supposed to protect us, protect our children and he’s not doing that,” said Joann Smith, a complainant in 2021.
When we did that story, 5 Writs of Mandamus had already been filed against Judge Bordeaux in Chatham County court.
In his response then, Bordeaux claimed that an “overwhelming
workload” and the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down his work. 3 years later,
the State of Georgia has stepped in by filing these formal ethics
charges.
Bordeaux just won re-election to the bench back in May where he got 69% of the vote.
WSAV attempted to get in touch with Judge Bordeaux to find out more about the investigation, but he did not answer our requests.
We informed Chatham County officials of the issue, and they had no
immediate response to our questions. They said that because Bordeaux is
an elected official, they would not be in charge of direct sanctions or
decisions about his position.
WSAV also reached out to the JQC Director to learn more about what
potential penalties or sanctions might be available to the State.
Judge-T.-Bordeaux-Formal-Charges-10.3.24
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Chatham County Probate Judge under State investigation
