Opinion ID: 2174333
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts & arguments

Text: James McCauley Seitz has a history of being unable to work in an amicable environment with anyone, be it people of authority, co-workers, or employees. When he first became a judge of the Monroe County Probate Court in 1977, hostilities began almost immediately between him and the chief judge and only colleague on the bench, Harry Seitz. Judge Harry Seitz resigned in 1985. [5] Before his vacancy was filled, the respondent discharged Harry Seitz' court reporter-secretary, Mrs. Trowbridge, which led to legal action by her against the respondent and Monroe County. Joseph Costello, with the urging of respondent, was appointed to fill the vacancy. What began as an amicable relationship between the two judges quickly deteriorated. The situation was so hostile, the then Chief Justice of this Court appointed Court of Appeals Judge JOHN GILLIS to act as chief judge [6] and assigned the State Court Administrator to act as special administrator of the Monroe County Probate Court. Judge GILLIS named Judge Costello as chief judge pro tem, resulting in his becoming acting chief judge when the appointment of Judge GILLIS as chief judge ended at the end of 1988. [7] Since that time the Monroe County Probate Court has been in a state of disarray. In referring to Judge Seitz and Judge Costello, the master summarized as follows: They have overwhelmed associates, staff, the State Court Administrator's Office and the Judicial Tenure Commission with complaints against one another, and have generated an impressive volume of complaints from others. Staff, caught up in the turmoil, have become pawns between the two, compelled to work in an environment of suspicion and hostility. Contact was reduced to written memoranda, employees made notes of events and compiled dossiers on judges and each other. Some of them brought law suits and one went to jail. Respondent secretly taped his telephone conversations. Central to an understanding of much of what transpired in the period during which the charges against respondent arose is his relationship with his secretary/court reporter. In discussing that relationship, the master stated: In early 1983, Cindy Paz was hired by respondent to be his secretary-recorder. Mrs. Paz, now Mrs. Cameron, failed the test for court recorder three times but was kept on the job by respondent and a bizarre relationship developed. She was described as rough, which is a fair description. Indeed, the tenor of conversation between the two, in the presence of other court staff or in private, took on the atmosphere of a bawdy house with sexual references and gifts of a crude and vulgar nature. Both respondent and Mrs. Cameron deny that a sexual relationship existed between them; if not, it would appear that respondent was trying to create one. He hinted to her that they should run off together; he discussed his matrimonial problems with her and described his wife to her in the most unflattering terms. He would drop in at her home at all hours of the day or night, often bringing liquor with him; he bought her expensive clothes. He was generous and helpful to her. And he expected absolute loyalty of her in his conflicts with Judge Seitz, Judge Costello and others, insisting that she refer to them in the crudest of terms and that she avoid contacts with them.