Judge Shines Light On Court System Vermin Infestation

Bronx Surrogate Judge, Facing Discipline, Defends Himself
The New York Times by John Eligon -  January 10, 2012

The complicated arrangement of letters and numbers in the myriad rules and protocols governing his court’s procedure rolled off Judge Lee L. Holzman’s tongue as easily as the alphabet as he testified on Tuesday.  He referred casually to rules — like Section 1418 of the S.C.P.A., a reference to the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act — that, he insisted in a Manhattan courtroom, he had long strongly enforced in his court.  Judge Holzman explained the specific guidelines about what fees lawyers can collect when they administer an estate and when they can collect them. Veering from those procedures, he testified, would require a thorough explanation.  And so it was with indignation, he said, that he met the news that rules were being broken right under his gavel.  “I was shocked,” Judge Holzman said, referring to his reaction when he learned that Esther Rodriguez, the former Bronx public administrator, and her former counsel, Michael Lippman, had allegedly deviated from that protocol.  Judge Holzman, the Bronx surrogate since 1988, is in the midst of a disciplinary hearing in which he is charged with allowing his staff to run amok and to take fees that were excessive and unearned from estates that it was handling. Judge Holzman could lose his job as a result of the hearing.  The hearing provides a rare look at such a proceeding in New York State. Normally, they are closed, but Judge Holzman waived his right to confidentiality. This is just the 11th time in the state that a judge has waived confidentiality in more than 750 formal disciplinary proceedings spanning three and a half decades, said Robert H. Tembeckjian, the administrator of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which is prosecuting the case.  The hearing is being held before Felice Shea, a retired State Supreme Court justice, who will advise to the commission whether the charges against Judge Holzman have been proven. If they have, the commission then makes the decision on Judge Holzman’s fate; its options range from admonition to removal.

Judge Holzman, who as surrogate oversees proceedings for wills and the settling of estates of people who die without wills, portrayed himself as the victim of dishonest employees.  He said he first had an inkling of wrongdoing in 2004, when he noticed that a man whom Ms. Rodriguez had hired to clean out the properties of deceased people was receiving more money than usual. Judge Holzman later learned that the city was investigating the man, John Rivera, and told Ms. Rodriguez to stop using him, he said. As the public administrator, Ms. Rodriguez was to oversee the administration of estates of people who died without wills, including paying legal fees for that work.  Judge Holzman said he later learned that Ms. Rodriguez was still using Mr. Rivera, who, unbeknown to the judge, was her boyfriend.  “At that point, I had absolutely zero confidence in Esther Rodriguez,” Judge Holzman testified, adding that he gave her an ultimatum in January 2006. “I said, ‘You have two choices. You can resign or I’m going to fire you,’ and she gave me a letter of resignation.”  It was only after Ms. Rodriguez — who, along with Mr. Rivera, faces criminal charges — resigned, Judge Holzman said, that he learned of what the commission has said were improper billing practices by Mr. Lippman. He was prematurely advancing fees from estates he oversaw and taking money he had not earned, according to the commission. Judge Holzman testified that Mr. Lippman worked for the public administrator, and it was her responsibility, not his, to make sure Mr. Lippman was getting proper fees.  But the commission has argued that as the person authorized to hire and fire the Surrogate’s Court staff, Judge Holzman, by law, was responsible for making sure that the court’s employees followed proper procedure. The commission has also criticized Judge Holzman for his response after learning of Mr. Lippman’s reputed practices. Judge Holzman did not alert the authorities, and instead of firing Mr. Lippman, let him work on other estates to pay down the improper fees he had drawn on prior cases.  “He had not, to my knowledge, violated any law,” Judge Holzman said.  Mr. Lippman has been indicted in the Bronx on charges including scheming to defraud and grand larceny for his actions in the Surrogate’s Court.

-----Related Story:

Bx. judge testifies -- on his own behalf
The New York Post by Jose Martinez  -  January 10, 2012

A judge charged with misconduct took the rare step today of testifying publicly in his own defense.  Bronx Surrogate Lee Holzman, who is accused of allowing a lawyer pal loot the estates of people who died with no wills, said he was "shocked" to learn in 2006 that there may have been misdeeds on his watch.  The veteran judge, the Bronx surrogate since 1988, became only the 11th judge to testify in more than 700 disciplinary cases brought since 1978 by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.  Holzman said he was clueless that lawyer Michael Lippman - also his chief campaign fundraiser - had been repeatedly granted advance legal fees by Esther Rodriguez, a former public administrator in Bronx Surrogate's Court. Holzman probates will and oversees estates at the court.  "I was shocked when I learned that apparently Mrs. Rodriguez, at the request of Mr. Lippman, had deviated from that protocol," Holzman said, saying the pair, who are both facing criminal charges, deviated from guidelines on payment standards.  Bronx prosecutors in 2010 charged Lippman with billing more than $300,000 in excess legal fees.  Holzman could be removed from the bench or censured by the commission, which is is having the case heard in Manhattan by a retired state judge.  The former law school adjunct professor apologized for sounding "professorial" during his turn on the stand, and said he had limited contact with Lippman, who he's known since 1974.  "I might have gone to a Yankee game or two with him, I'm not sure," Holzman said.