Opinion ID: 2134029
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Dilatory Filings

Text: Iowa Supreme Court Rule 200 provides: Each ... district associate judge ... shall report monthly to the supreme court, through the office of the state court administrator, all matters taken under advisement in any case for longer than sixty days, together with an explanation of the reasons for the delay and an expected date of decision. Rule 200 may be violated in four ways, by: (1) not submitting a report; (2) submitting an untimely report; (3) omitting cases; and (4) reporting cases in an untimely manner. Carstensen, 316 N.W.2d at 893. In our de novo review, we find that the evidence supports the following factual background. Of the Rule 200 reports filed from May 1999 through September 2000, none were received by the tenth of the following months, as required. Although a few were only a few days late, two were never filed, five were substantially late, and two were filed at the hearing date. Most cases took a considerable amount of time to decide. Judge Gerard received a private admonishment in May 1999, for late filing of Rule 200 reports. Nevertheless, a pattern of late filings continued. Moreover, a number of cases were not listed on the Rule 200 reports. On other Rule 200 reports, cases were removed from the list of unresolved cases before they were actually decided. Cases subject to the rule included all types. There were criminal cases, including indictable offenses, traffic appeals, simple misdemeanors, small claims appeals, child in need of assistance cases, and termination of parental rights cases. The length of delays in deciding cases varied, but a number were substantial. In 1995, four cases took an average of 944 days to decide with a median of 820 days. In 1996, twelve cases took an average of 796 days to decide with a median of 757 days. In 1997, twenty-seven cases took an average of 367 days to decide with a median of 370 days. In 1998, ten cases took an average of 187 days to decide with a median of 192 days. In 1999, thirty cases took an average of 173 days to decide with a median of 140 days. In 2000, eighteen cases took an average of 176 days to decide with a median of 173 days. Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White testified that some pretrial rulings were delayed so long that criminal cases had to be dismissed. Delayed rulings in juvenile cases resulted in delayed adoption proceedings. County attorney White testified that he felt Judge Gerard had an administrative weakness that resulted in his forgetting about pending matters. He felt the judge at times became personally and professionally dysfunctional, making it difficult to focus on his work. Judge Gerard testified that he had problems with timeliness since 1983 when he was a magistrate. He testified he was a procrastinator and tried to do too much personally and professionally. He said his problems were cyclical rather than consistent and that part of the problem was that he had not developed a good system for tracking the cases until the fall of 2000 when his court attendant began to keep track of the cases. Judge Gerard received a private admonition in 1999 for delayed filings and reports. He was admonished to forego quasi-judicial activities until he became current in his workload. Quasi-judicial activities included teaching at judges' school and appearing as a speaker at various legal and civic functions. Unfortunately, he continued to engage in considerable quasi-judicial activities and remained dilatory in completing assigned work. The record shows on the positive side that Judge Gerard became more current in his rulings for a time. Several attorneys testified that they and the bar in general truly respect and appreciate Judge Gerard's devotion to the care given to each case. They said they would rather have a thoughtful ruling with some delay than a ruling without careful deliberation filed on time to beat the clock. There is also evidence that attorneys will seek out Judge Gerard on particular cases that require a heightened degree of care and deliberation. A problem of delay came before our court in Carstensen, 316 N.W.2d at 892-95. Judge Carstensen failed to comply with Rule 200 by omitting cases from required reports, and by reporting matters subsequent to the reports in which they should have been included. Further, he paid little or no heed to letters reminding him of his responsibility under Rule 200. He also ignored admonitions from the chief justice. We found that Judge Carstensen had blatantly, flagrantly, and persistently disregarded the requirements of rule 200. Id. at 894. The gravity of the noncompliance warranted discipline of a thirty-day suspension without pay. Although Judge Gerard had been admonished about his failure to timely file Rule 200 reports, he recognized the problem, sought and accomplished some improvement. As such, regardless of his shortcomings in this regard, we find that such actions do not violate Canon 1 requiring a judge to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary. Nor do his actions here rise to the level of willful misconduct in office under Iowa Code section 602.2106(3)(b). However, we find that a disciplinary sanction is warranted by being supported by other charges. The commission found that Canon 3(A)(5) had been violated that requires a judge to perform the duties of the office impartially and diligently. We agree with the commission. Judge Gerard's actions regarding timeliness of decisions, failure to fully comply with Rule 200, and his continuation of quasi-judicial duties to the detriment of his work, especially in light of his receiving a prior admonition, is a flagrant and willful violation of Canon 3(A)(5). Judge Gerard's actions also violated section 602.2106(3)(b), as charged generally by the commission and as stated by that section, in that his acts constituted a persistent failure to perform judicial duties. We find these to be serious violations, which standing alone warrant significant disciplinary sanction.