Why Can't We Be Friends?

New York State trial judge Diane Lebedeff just got her wrists slapped -- again. Was it warranted?

At issue was the fact that she presided over the case of a friend, an attorney named Ravi Batra. Batra apparently represented himself in a personal injury action pending before the judge. From time to time, the judge would excuse defense counsel so that she and Batra could shoot the breeze.

Apparently, defense counsel were aware of the friendship, and never objected to the ex parte rag chewing.

So where's the beef?

The New York Times reported that one of the defense lawyers got hot around the collar when he learned that the judge had also appointed Batra to a guardianship that yielded $84,000 in fees. Judge Lebedeff never told defense counsel about that.

And defense counsel complained that the judge once abused her discretion by striking a third party's pleading because it was filed a day late.

This is the second time the judge has been censured for being a little too cozy with with friends while on the bench. In 2003, she was rebuked for appointing her accountant, also a friend, to cases in which he earned decent fees. The accountant, as it turns out, worked on the judge's taxes gratis during the self-same period.

How the world has changed. Centuries ago jurors were chosen from among the prominent in a community because of their knowledge of the locale and, presumably, the parties. We now prefer justice be done by perfect strangers.

Did the judge give the appearance of impropriety? Yes. But not by much.

Defense counsel in the Batra case slept at the switch and then cried foul. In the Batra case, counsel complained only after someone committed malpractice by blowing a deadline. That forced them to settle the case for $225,000.

Rule One for advocates: Don't cozy up to the the judge. If you see something you don't like, object. Make a record. Wake up and smell the litigation, counselor.

Comments

[Maren Chaloupka]

An interesting decision illustrating precisely Norm's point is Mooney v. Gordon Mem. Hosp. Dist., 682 N.W.2d 253 (Neb. 2004). Rolling the dice to see how things will shake out after conduct a lawyer thinks is questionable occurs is not approved.