Opinion ID: 2276843
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: We Affirm as to Count II.

Text: Count II stems from a case similar to Count I. In Count II, the husband filed for a writ of prohibition from the Court of Appeals to prevent enforcement of Judge Gormley's order changing custody. The legal question before the Court of Appeals was whether the Woodford Family Court was the proper venue/forum for a change of custody when the parties no longer had any connection with Woodford County (the dissolution forum). Both parents/parties had moved out of Woodford County ten years before, and neither had had contact with Woodford County until the wife filed the motion for a change of custody. Both children had lived in Rowan County since shortly after the 1998 divorce. The Court of Appeals decided that the proper forum would be Rowan County, and this Court affirmed. [33] Again, an erroneous ruling by Judge Gormley; but was it a good faith erroneous ruling on the law, or something more (i.e., bad faith, part of a pattern of misconduct, or a sanctionable egregious error)? The Commission reviewed the record and concluded that Judge Gormley failed to provide the father even the most basic elements of procedural due process. She acted without assuring him notice and an opportunity to be heard, she thwarted his every attempt to present evidence in support of his position (revealed in a video transcript of the August 14 proceeding), and most importantly acted as judge of a Family Court that had no jurisdiction over the matter that had been presented to her through an unusual and extraordinary procedure (an unverified form or motion containing no statement of facts and no grounds for relief). And, most egregiously, Judge Gormley took actions on August 14, 2008[,] that were intended (although unsuccessfully) to have the effect of denying to the father a right to appeal decisions of the Woodford Family Court to a higher judicial authority. We agree with the Commission's implicit finding that Judge Gormley acted in bad faith. When the father's counsel would not be bullied into going along with Judge Gormley's attempts to circumvent procedures and the law, she excluded the attorney and dealt directly with the father, threatening him with the loss of custody of his other child unless he accepted Judge Gormley's agreed order. Judge Gormley knew, or should have known, that she was acting erroneously but pushed on. Even if we did not find that Judge Gormley's actions rose to the level of bad faith, Judge Gormley's actions in Count II also constitute the type of outrageous and egregious error that may properly subject a judicial officer to sanctions. Finally, Judge Gormley's actions in Count II also are one component of a pattern of judicial misconduct. We cannot say the Commission's findings in Count II were clearly erroneous or that the Commission misunderstood the law or the significance of the violations as compared to the sanction.