A Camden County choose was publicly reprimanded by the New Jersey Supreme Court docket for misconduct even though quickly functioning in spouse and children courtroom.
On Tuesday, April 11, a Supreme Court docket Advisory Committee on Judicial Perform reported State Top-quality Courtroom Judge Michael J. Kassel’s conduct constituted a comprehensive departure from moral criteria.
Kassel, who normally functions in Camden County’s civil division, was temporarily assigned to the relatives division in April 2021.
The advisory committee’s report included various responses from the decide professing his ignorance of relatives legislation, these types of as:
- “I’m not an idiot, but I’m not a loved ones division judge.”
- And: “I am not a family division decide. I am a judge helping out. I am not a loved ones division judge. I have no experience in family legislation.”
- And: “I have no abilities in any relatives legislation and the most effective I can do in any circumstance is use some common feeling and the lawful knowledge I’ve gathered more than the previous 20 yrs. Which is the most effective I can do.”
- Ultimately, “The last time I was a relatives division choose was 18 years ago and we’re performing the ideal we can below very tough situations.”
Kassel’s remarks “undermine the integrity of the Judiciary and the judicial system, and trivialize the parties’ legitimate pursuits in in search of redress with the court docket,” the advisory committee wrote.
A June 2021 litigant alleged that in a digital hearing, Kassel appeared without having his judicial gown and propped his legs up on the desk in entrance of him.
The Camden County listening to concerned problems of parenting time and reunification remedy. The grievant alleged that Kassel “expressed a basic lack of knowing of family regulation, unsuccessful to thoroughly evaluation the parties’ submissions, failed to maintain proper buy and decorum, and demonstrated a bias which necessitated his recusal.”
In household court docket, he allegedly “remarked to litigants and their counsel that he lacked familiarity with their circumstance, was ignorant of the applicable law and inexperienced in adjudicating family members court issues, and expressed dissatisfaction with the short-term assignment and the method by which that assignment was produced,” the advisory committee wrote in its 23-website page view.
“Respondent regularly professed to counsel and litigants his ignorance of household regulation, his deficiency of planning in the matters before him, and his unwillingness to commit the time and effort necessary to recognize and take care of their authorized troubles,” the committee wrote.
The advisory committee reviewed documentation appropriate to these allegations, such as audio information and transcripts.
The committee’s investigation subsequently exposed that Kassel produced similar comments to litigants and counsel in at least 15 other matters.
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