Opinion ID: 1779690
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: the extent to which the judge exploited his position to satisfy his personal desires.

Text: Judge Lee argues that she did not retain the public funds to her advantage, and that there was no finding of commingling by Judge Lee or of misuse by Judge Lee of public funds. Accordingly, she argues that the only issue regarding the travel expenses was the timeliness of her completion of the reimbursement reports, which she regrets were not filed timely. We disagree. Let there be no mistake about what Judge Lee was charged with, and what she stipulated to: her conduct violated La. Const. art. VII, § 14, which prohibits funds of the state from being loaned, pledged or donated to any person, and La. R.S. 42:1461(A), which prohibits a state official from misappropriating, misapplying, converting, misusing, or otherwise wrongfully taking public funds. For nineteen of the 28 trips at issue, Judge Lee owed the court money upon her return because the total amounts advanced to her, prepaid by the court, or charged to the court's credit card exceeded the total amount of reimbursable expenses incurred on the trip. For 12 of those 19 trips, she failed to repay the court for advanced travel costs until after the end of the fiscal year in which the travel occurred. For one of those trips, the delay in repayment to the court was 660 days. For eight of those trips, she charged some of the expenses to the court's credit card, despite the fact that she had received travel expenses to cover those expenses. Judge Lee's testimony at the hearing that she actually did repay the court immediately because she put the monies owed to the court for her travel expenses in a safe in her office is ridiculous. Not only is this testimony highly suspect given that she repaid the court with money orders she obtained at some later time, it is an unacceptable defense. This Court long ago rejected this so-called black box defense in attorney discipline cases in charges of improper use of client funds. LSBA v. Krasnoff, 488 So.2d 1002 (La. 1986) (keeping client's settlement proceeds in a safe deposit box, instead of giving the funds to the client, created a presumption of embezzlement, and was not a defense to a charge of commingling). We likewise reject this defense in judicial discipline cases. Regarding the appropriate discipline for the decisional delay, in addition to the Chaisson factors, this Court has cited several other factors in considering whether and how to impose a sanction. Tuck, supra at 1218; Wimbish, supra at 1187. These factors are: (1) the amount of delay from the date the case was ripe for decision; (2) the complexity of the case; (3) the administrative and judicial workload of the judge; (4) the number of special assignments given to the judge; (5) the amount of vacation time taken; and (6) other complaints involving delayed decisions made against the judge. Id. (citing In re: King, 184 W.Va. 177, 399 S.E.2d 888 (1990)). The Tuck court explained that sanctions, in cases of judicial decisional delay cases, have been imposed in cases involving: (1) a substantial number of delayed decisions; (2) small number of delayed decisions involving particularly long delays; and (3) proof of vindictive or other malicious motive behind an instance of delay. When there are only one or two cases of delay, the courts generally have declined to sanction a judge, absent some other type of misconduct or aggravating circumstance. Id. (citing Jeffrey M. Shaman, et al., Judicial Conduct and Ethics, § 6.05 (2d ed.1995)). In this case, compounding and aggravating her decisional delay was the failure to report any of the delayed cases as under advisement. In Wimbish, this Court concluded that the judge's failure to comply with the Court's reporting requirements was misconduct: La. Sup.Ct. Rule G, § 2(b), which requires judges to report the status of cases pending beyond the established time period, was intended to provide a system of accountability and to promote the orderly and expeditious disposition of all matters submitted to a judge. It is imperative that those responsible for administering the judicial system be furnished this information timely. Therefore, we view the reporting requirement as a necessary duty, which we expect to be followed. 733 So.2d at 1188. Indeed, repeatedly failing to report cases under advisement when they are undecided is indicative of dishonesty on the part of a judge. In re: Sharp, 03-2256 (La.10/29/03), 856 So.2d 1213, 1215. While discipline is certainly appropriate for these decisional delays and her failure to report them as under advisement, the most egregious and serious violations concern Judge Lee's handling of her travel expenses. This Court's General Administrative Rules contain stringent requirements for a judge requesting reimbursement of or payment for travel expenses incurred or to be incurred in attending a court-related meeting. See La. Supreme Court Rules, Part G, § 1. The Rules require that in order to be reimbursed for travel expenses, among other requirements, the judge must submit an itemized voucher for the actual travel expenses incurred, together with the required original receipts, invoices, and other required supporting documentation. Claims for reimbursement must be submitted no later that the tenth day of the month following the month in which the travel was incurred. While there is no express time limit in the Rules for returning unused advanced public funds, the funds must be returned within a reasonable period. Further, even when all the public funds advanced are actually used for an appropriate purpose according to the Rules, the judge must still account for these funds by providing an itemized statement for the actual travel expenses incurred, together with the required original receipts, invoices, and other required supporting documentation. See La. Supreme Court Rules, Part G, § 1(d), 1.3(c). The delays for returning and accounting for the public funds in this case are far from reasonable. Finally, obtaining advances for travel expenses, then charging the same expenses to the court credit card, and, most incredibly, waiting months or even years to return the unused money is completely unacceptable. We conclude that Judge Lee's handling of her travel expenses, along with her delay in deciding cases and failing to report these cases as under advisement, as charged by the Commission, and as stipulated and testified to by Judge Lee, warrants the recommended 120-day suspension in this case.