Monday, March 2, 2015

NYS Supreme Court Denies Pro Se Litigants Their Day In Court: The Case of Judge Kathryn Freed


Judge Kathryn Freed
Update:

I went to Court for oral argument on February 3, 2015, but Judge Freed called in sick, and all cases were adjourned.

Attorney Tatich from the Corporation Counsel called me at 4:36PM, February 2, 2015 and told me that I misspelled his name on the post!! So sorry (corrected it).

Mr. Tatich then told me that he did not know why Judge Frank Nervo is listed in the eTrack, because evidently the Court has an order wherein Judge Nervo recused himself from my case. I wonder why (next research job).

And, also according to Mr. Tatich, Judge Freed was moved from her current position and is not doing any city cases but she is doing whatever was on her list when she was moved, so she is back in her courtroom until....

If this sounds like it is confusing, it is.

Betsy Combier

Anyone who has tried to file a case pro se in State Supreme Court - or Federal, for that matter, but that's another story - will be subtly or directly denied due process. Judges despise people who do not have lawyers representing them, for any of the following reasons:

1. Judges have a problem understanding a pro se person who does not speak English or who does speak English, but must pretend that they do understand. It isn't a matter of understanding, they are directed not to allow pro se litigants to win, because then there is precedent.

Take Shlomo Hagler, for instance. He plays a game with pro se litigants. We - court watchers - have been gathering information about his pattern and practice of denying pro se litigants their due process. What he does is, and I saw this happening, pro se litigants are coddled into thinking he is preserving their rights, and then he denies their petitions/lawsuits in a one sentence ruling from the bench. I saw this: a pro se person appears before him, and in this case it was a bi-lingual teacher for the Department of Education, asking the judge to grant her petition to overturn the arbitration award of a 3020-a arbitrator who suspended her for 45 days without any probable or just cause. This teacher does not speak English well at all. So Judge Hagler was really, really nice, and said she did not need an attorney, and then told the Corporation Counsel that they had to come back with proof that they honored her due process. The next time they were back before Hagler, he dismissed the case in one sentence.

That is his pattern and practice. A theater performance that does not fool anyone.

2. Judges cannot make secret deals with pro se litigants, as they do with Attorneys.

3. Judges do not believe that pro so litigants know anyone "powerful" enough to make them worried about denying any due process. As I have said many times, assumptions are too dangerous to rely on. Judges should do the right thing the first time, and not be scared straight, as I try to do by writing about them on this and my other blogs.

I have fought for rights since 1999. My church stole my mom's ashes from me when she died on March 15, 1998, then their Insurance Carrier, Guide One, and the Surrogate Court hired an Attorney to harass me for the next 14 years. I had heart failure on July 22, 2006. My Attorney, Jonathan Landsman, tried to fight me on the subway after the trial so that I would not get my mom's ashes. Judge Lottie Wilkins did the trial, and when the jury came out with their verdict, that I must receive $500,000 for my pain and suffering, Wilkins suddenly declared a mis-trial, sent the jury away, and told me and Attorney Landsman that we had to pick a new jury for a second trial and be back in her courtroom in 1 hour.

Luckily, I taped NYPD Detective Ahearne who told me that Supreme Court Judge Karla Moskowitz was paying Attorney Kenneth Wasserman to harass me. I got her - Judge Karla Moskowitz - removed from the Supreme Court 3 days after she finally dismissed with prejudice  the case falsely claiming I took money from my grandfather's estate, which did not exist when the case was put into the Court's Computer. Judge Moskowitz was moved to the First Department Appellate Division, and I submitted the tape there, and won there as well. But it almost killed me.





































Here is another, very recent incident that I had in the Courtroom of New York State Judge Kathryn Freed:, below. By the way, I am a firm supporter of the rights of Veterans and of the gay/lesbian/transgender groups, so I am not citing Judge Freed for her support for any of these groups, only her attack on pro se litigants, and me in particular:
Judge Freed on her balcony

On July 18 2014 at 11:15AM I went to the NY State Supreme Court to help a teacher friend move his record from the Supreme Court to the Appellate Division, First Department, so that he could perfect his appeal of Judge Kathryn Freed's denial of his case. Judge Freed granted the Corporation Counsel's Motion To Dismiss, as she always did. I decided to do a favor for my friend.

subpoena filled out, ready for Judge Freed's signature in the lower right

With all the papers in hand, plus the subpoena for Judge Freed to sign/stamp (Judges are mandated to sign/stamp subpoenas for pro se litigants who want to appeal the decision made in their court to a higher court), I went to her Courtroom at 80 Center Street on July 18, 2014  to obtain her signature on the subpoena before filing the papers to move the record.(I have deleted the name and Index number).

When I walked in her Courtroom, a man was sitting at the desk, and I went to him (the Courtroom was completely empty) and gave him the subpoena for the Judge to sign. I saw Judge Freed in her Chambers, in shorts, sandals and tee shirt. The man took a look and then handed it back, and said "I will not give this to the Judge, it is all wrong".

I asked him, "What is wrong?"

He said "I cannot tell you, I am not a lawyer, so I cannot give you legal advice".

I said, "So what do I do now?"

He said, "Go to the pro se office".

I said "Thank you." and I left 80 Centre Street, and went across the street to 60 Centre Street, the pro se office. When I went in, I saw a Supervisor I knew, and I said hi, could you please tell me what is wrong with this subpoena???? He looked at it, and said "I don't see anything wrong". He asked me why I was there, in the pro se office. I told him, and he said, oh, just go back to the same man and tell him that the Judge should sign it. He is a relief person, and the actual clerk in Judge Freed's courtroom is away this week on vacation.

So I went back to 80 Centre Street, and went back to Room 280. When I entered the Courtroom, it was still empty, and the man with whom I had spoken earlier was still sitting at the desk. So I went over to him and said that the pro se office had told me to come back and ask for the subpoena to be signed. He asked me who told me that. I gave the Supervisor's name, which actually was his middle name. The man called the pro se office: "Hi, is this Bob (or Bill, I don't remember which)? Ok, this is Larry Russo. I have a person who says she just spoke with a man in your office named _______. Is there such a person? No? Ok, thank you." He hung up.

Russo then told me he was fed up with my trying to get the subpoena signed, I was stupid and should have my friend hire an attorney. He was not going to show the subpoena to Judge Freed. He was talking so loudly in such an abusive way, that Judge Freed came out of her Chambers for a minute (in her shorts and tee) to see what was going on, then turned around and went back in to her Chambers. She left the door open.

I started to leave the room, now convinced that there was a story here, and just before opening the door to the hallway, I turned around and asked Mr. Russo very nicely: "Do you belong to a Union?"

Russo got quite angry and said, "yes, of course I do... The Court Clerk's Association. What is it to you? You don't even have my name."

I said, very nicely, "Oh, I do have your name, it's Larry Russo. Thanks again."

I left. I went back to the pro se office and asked to speak with Bob/Bill. He came over and I handed him the subpoena. I asked him first, did he just speak with Larry Russo? He said yes. Then I asked, what is wrong with this subpoena?? He said  "well, maybe you could spell out "New York" at the top instead of "NY". So, I changed it. I thanked him, and went back to 80 Centre Street and Judge Freed's courtroom. It was lunchtime (1PM), so the door was locked. I went to the 4th floor law library.I was getting a little nervous the time to move the record was not going to be met (1:30-2:30PM).

rules to move the record


but I needed the signature of Judge Freed.

At 2:15PM I went back to Judge Freed's Courtroom, and it was still empty except for Larry Russo. I said to him: "Please, Mr. Russo, would you please give this to Judge Freed? I just need her signature at the bottom, so that I could move the record for my friend. I went to the pro se office and the judge must sign it."

Russo said, "who did you speak to?"

I said, "Bob/Bill, the man you called."

Russo said, "what is his last name?"

With that, I said, a little bit louder than I had before, "C'mon, Mr. Russo, I need this signed, and now you are being very verbally abusive. Would you please just show the subpoena to the Judge so she can sign it?"

Russo grabbed the subpoena out of my hand, and told me he would be right back, but he was SURE the Judge would not sign it.

A minute later he came back, threw the unsigned subpoena at me and said, "See???? I told you she would not sign it!"

I left. Now what should I do, I thought. I decided to see the CEO of the Court on the 7th floor, if he would see me. I took the elevator to the 6th floor, told the guard my name, and met the CEO again for the second time. He told me this whole episode was ridiculous. I obtained the signature of Judge Heitler, and moved the record. It was approximately 4:30PM when I left 60 Centre Street.


Now I also have two cases of my own in the Supreme Court. The first, INDEX No. 101748/2005, which concerns the concussion I received on February 10, 2004. In that case, as with all of my cases, I am on eTrack, which means that I get emails a week before appearances.

Except, pro se litigants don't get notices until AFTER the date of the appearance, which you now have missed. I went to Judge Freed's office the day before the prior appearance in January, (Mr. Russo was not there!!!) and heard that Freed had been moved to non-City cases. I was told that the Court would let me know the new Judge and the new date.  See the email below. Not only has the schedule been kept from me so that I missed my appearance, but both cases have been given the same Judge, recently: Judge Kathryn Freed!

I plan to argue against the City's Motion To Dismiss, and appeal any ruling of Judge Freed for prejudicial actions and violations of my due process.  Judge Freed, whose office was in the very same building as the NYC DOE 3020-a hearings, 51 Chambers Street, and who now walks to the tune of denying pro se litigants their rights, must be held to a standard of applying the rules of due process and judicial fairness. Stay tuned.

This is how accountability works. The City Attorney on the concussion case has been Attorney Payne Tatich, and now is Kari Heyison from the Bronx where Judge Troy Webber works. She used to be the Surrogate Court Judge interim - while Nora Anderson was on trial for taking money from Attorney Seth Rubenstein - who put me on trial after she told me that if I ever wrote anything about her (Troy Webber) she would never probate my mom's Will (She said this in her Courtroom on April 1, 2009) Within a few days, the story was on my website and I filed a RICO against her on June 8, 2009.
Judge Troy Webber

Judge Webber, angry at me for putting what she did on my website after she locked me in her courtroom and threatened me with never probating my mom's Will on April 1, 2009 if I did write anything, put me on trial without a jury, and then convicted me of abusing my mom, as retaliation. (I had heart failure over this, I never abused my mom).




LinkedIn Page of Payne Tatich

Payne Tatich

NYC Law Department
CurrentNYC Law Department
Previous
  1. Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic,
  2. Spangenberg, Shibley & Liber LLP,
  3. Case Western Reserve University
Edit experience
Education
  1. Case Western Reserve University School of Law


Kari Alexandra Heyison, Esq.

Assistant Corporation Counsel-- at Office of the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York
Location
Brooklyn, New York
Industry
Law Practice
Current
  1. Office of the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York
Previous
  1. Touro Law Center Family Law Clinic,
  2. Jaspan Schlesinger LLP,
  3. United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Edit experience
Education
  1. Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
 


Last Appearance:
Appearance Date: 11/25/2014 --- Information updated
Appearance Time: 
On For: Motion --- Information updated
Appearance Outcome: Oral Argument (80 Centre St) --- Information updated
Justice: FREED, KATHRYN E. (DCM) --- Information updated
Part: IAS MOTION 5 --- Information updated
Comments: 9:30 --- Information updated


Future Appearances:
Appearance Date: 03/12/2015
Appearance Time: 
On For: Supreme Trial
Appearance Outcome: 
Justice: NERVO, FRANK P. (DCM)
Part: COMPLIANCE CONFERENCE 62 DCM
Comments: 2PM

Appearance Date: 03/03/2015 --- Information updated
Appearance Time: 
On For: Motion
Appearance Outcome: 
Justice: FREED, KATHRYN E. (DCM)
Part: IAS MOTION 5
Comments: 9:30

Appearance Date: 01/20/2015 --- Information updated
Appearance Time: 
On For: Motion
Appearance Outcome: Adjourned --- Information updated
Justice: FREED, KATHRYN E. (DCM)
Part: IAS MOTION 5
Comments: 9:30

Monday, February 2, 2015

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Shlomo Hagler Sued By Board of Bialystoker Synagogue (2013)

Is Shlomo Hagler related to Sheldon Silver?

Is he double-dipping?

Betsy Combier

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Shlomo Hagler
‘Lot’ of anger: Landmark temple sues over property
A Manhattan judge was slapped with a $25 million lawsuit for his role in the potential sale of lucrative property adjoining a landmark institution once run by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Bialystoker Synagogue

Fellow board members of the Bialystoker Synagogue are suing their president, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shlomo Hagler, over a dispute involving an ­L-shaped lot at Delancey Street and Bialystoker Place and that’s been owned by the orthodox congregation since 1987.

In the suit, Baruch Singer and Lenny Greher claim that Hagler, the synagogue’s rabbi, Zvi Romm, and the chairman of its housing fund are barred from selling the property at 15-17 Bialystoker Place based on an April 2012 ruling by a Brooklyn rabbinical court.

A source close to the litigation told The Post the suit comes after the synagogue sold off a 127-unit ­affordable-housing building it owns on an adjacent lot for $28 million in January.

The orthodox congregation, housed in a 1826 fieldstone building that’s on the National Register of Historic Places, is primarily made up of Polish immigrants. It’s rumored that the building was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Hagler took over as president when Sheldon resigned in 2010 following a rift in the congregation over women joining the leadership ranks.

Hagler declined to comment. The other defendants did not return calls for comment

Sheldon Silver, Manhattan Supreme Court Judges Shlomo Hagler and Martin Shulman: What is Going On With These Three?

That Sheldon Silver has control over NYC courts is nothing new. Is ManhattanSupreme Court Judge Shlomo Hagler a close relative of Silver?

Just askin'

Betsy Combier

Landlords have cases before Silver-linked judge




Sheldon Silver
Two Lower East Side landlords with ties to outgoing Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have property-tax cases pending before a judge who owes his career to the disgraced Manhattan Democrat, The Post has learned.
Mark Miller and Sion Misrahi are also being represented by the law firm that allegedly funneled at least $700,000 to Silver in illegal kickbacks in a long-running corruption scheme, records show.
The judge presiding over their assessment challenges, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Martin Shulman, is a lifelong pal of Silver. He and Silver live in the same Grand Street building and pray at the same nearby synagogue.
“They’re friends who grew up together. Shelly pushed Shulman through to be a Supreme Court judge,” a judicial insider said.
Shulman also sits on a prestigious appeals court, the Manhattan Appellate Term. He was recommended to the court by a screening committee whose members include a Silver appointee.
Shulman is the lone judge in Manhattan who handles “tax certiorari” cases, in which owners challenge the official value of their real-estate holdings, which is used to calculate tax bills.
Feds say Silver illegally pocketed at least $700,000 in sham “referral fees” by steering business from two leading developers to a law firm specializing in tax-certiorari cases and founded by Silver’s former Assembly counsel.
Silver never listed the payments on disclosure forms, the feds say.
The law firm, identified by sources as Goldberg & Iryami, has 17 cases pending before Shulman, including three on behalf of Miller and Misrahi.
Miller, owner of the Miller Manhattan Property Group and the Mark Miller Gallery, is the second vice chair and former president of the Lower East Side Business Improvement District, which Silver showered with more than $450,000 in public money between 2003 and 2010, state records show.
The funding stopped when Gov. Cuomo began vetoing pork-barrel spending by Albany lawmakers.
When Miller stepped down as the business-improvement district’s president in 2013, Silver presented him with a plaque and an iPad.
He is challenging the $578,000 assessment on his six-story rental building at 256 Broome St.
Misrahi, also a business improvement district member, donated $300 to Silver in 2011 through his Brownstone Management Corp., campaign-finance records show.
He is contesting the $513,000 assessment on an 18-unit building at 188 Orchard St., as well as a $200,000 hike on another property at 11 Essex St.
Shulman didn’t return a request for comment, but court-system spokesman David Bookstaver said the relationship between Shulman and Silver didn’t create a conflict of interest.
“Because someone belongs to the same congregation, it would be far-fetched to say that would be a reason to recuse oneself from the case,” Bookstaver said.
Miller and Misrahi didn’t return messages seeking comment.
Manhattan Supreme Court, 60 Centre Street
ORAL ARGUMENT SEEKING RECUSAL OF JUDGE HAGLER FROM PRESIDINGOVER DR. MEHULIC’s WHISTLEBLOWING ACTION

Mehulic v. New York Downtown Hospital Index No.103297-2008

October 27, 2014, at 10 AM. The courtroom of Justice Shlomo S. Hagler (Part 17) in Court

Room 335 at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007.

o I am a physician whistleblower who objected to improper and dangerous medical care that I observed at the labor and delivery department of the New York Downtown Hospital in 2007-2008. Many young mothers and babies died or were severely injured due to negligent care.

o After my multiple objections seeking to stop this negligence, I reported the whole matter several times to the New York Department of Health. Finally, on April 16, 2008, I received an email response from the DOH. That same day I was paged and told to go at once to the office of my boss, Allan Klapper, M.D. He threatened me that I would never practice medicine in this country again. Two days later I was fired by the hospital without explanation.

o Per my report , NBC News broke the story of a 16-year old teenager who was not pregnant but was given a caesarian section by these negligent doctors. Despite corrective measures that the hospital was supposed to implement, patients continued to die and in August of 2012 NBC News broke another story that 14 patients had unexpectedly died at the hospital and that an additional 40,000 medical mistakes made by hospital doctors were reported to the Department of Health and that the DOH was keeping these egregious cases of malpractice secret. In 2012 the hospital ended up with a deficiency of $40 Million. By July 1, 2013, the hospital closed both residency training programs (OBGYN and Internal Medicine) and its financial district and was acquired by the New York Presbyterian Hospital. The Government granted $125 million for the hospital’s reconstruction in 2013.

o I became aware of a long-term friendship and political alliance between Judge Hagler and Sheldon Silver, a member of the advisory board of the hospital and the Assembly Speaker of New York State. Judge Hagler is known as the surrogate son of Sheldon Silver. Moreover, Sheldon has received election contributions from the very same law firm that is representing the hospital in my case (Epstein, Becker &Green, P.C.).

o I also did not have knowledge that Judge Hagler’s brother Mendel Hagler was CEO of Gouverneur Hospital and his close personal and business relationship with Sheldon Silver, and his close ties with New York Department of Health which is involved in this action.

o I was wrongfully fired and unemployed for a year and a half because of the hospital’s slander and misinformation that it was spreading in a vendetta against me. In 2009 the hospital’s actions forced me to change my profession from Obstetrics and Gynecology to Family Medicine. I completed the Family Medicine Residency at the prestigious University of Southwestern Dallas, Texas, from July 1, 2009-June 30, 2012, with great success, awards and accolades.

o As soon as Judge Hagler took over 800 cases from Judge Goodman who retired (March 2012), my case was promptly heard on May 21, 2012. In every single hearing Judge Hagler has threatened me with sanctions and all my motions have been denied while all the defendant’s motions were wholehearted approved. I am the one who did the right thing and tried to protect patients; the hospital bosses are those who were negligent and reckless.

o There are numerous examples of the injustice I suffered in Judge Hagler’s court such as a revived confidentiality agreement that was made invalid ab initio by the prior judge. His actions also improperly placed my complete file under seal. He has unfairly placed me on a Temporary Restraining Order for more than two and a half years. Moreover, Judge Hagler disposed my case on February 6, 2014, and reactivated it only after my intervention. Judge Hagler denied my supplemental discovery which was essential to my case since the hospital closed their financial district and its residency programs. But at the same time per the opposing side’s demand, Hagler on three separate occasions ordered that the hospital could obtain my personnel file from the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital where I worked eight years ago without an issue. It was an unsuccessful fishing expedition on the part of my opponents to find something negative about me. Judge Hagler also ordered a third day of my deposition which is unheard of. I was grilled by the defendant’s counsels who tried to force me to admit to their false allegations.

o Such an amalgam of peculiar circumstances happened in my pending case and it cannot be explained by any reasonable person as anything else than rampant corruption, corruption that is preventing me, the whistleblower, and the public from obtaining justice. I had no choice other than to file a motion and demand Judge Hagler’s recusal since he never disclosed his relationships. His failure to act ethically by recusing himself has resulted in a grievous injustice.

o This is a true David v. Goliath story. Unfortunately as a whistleblower I do not have the legal right to have a jury trial at this time.

o If Hagler does not recuse himself he may stay as the trial judge. In that case, I will be crucified and the former hospital bosses who are responsible for criminal activities will come to the trial to feed him with lies and help him destroy my case.

o All public efforts to support justice are highly appreciated!

Respectfully,

Dr. Sue Mehulic, M.D.