A federal decide has tossed out a defamation go well with filed in opposition to ex-New York Chief Decide Janet DiFiore — who resigned final month amid an ongoing ethics probe — as “implausible to frivolous.”
The lawsuit, first filed by NY State Court docket Officers Affiliation boss Dennis Quirk in 2020 and revised final 12 months, referenced two Submit tales that exposed DiFiore had ordered a racial discrimination probe into the union head over his alleged therapy of black courtroom officers.
Quirk alleged DiFiore and co-defendant Chief Administrative Decide Lawrence Marks fed the “false, defamatory and injurious allegations” to The Submit, which was not listed as a defendant.
The union chief had despatched a fiery electronic mail to DiFiore — who stepped down final month — objecting to the discharge of the accusations in opposition to him, telling her, “[L]et’s see have [sic]you want the net articles about your relationship with a police officer with ties to organized crime when you had been married posted throughout each courtroom constructing in NYS.”
The Workplace of Court docket Administration subsequently introduced disciplinary fees in opposition to Quirk for sending a “threatening electronic mail to Chief Decide DiFiore designed to intimidate her.”
Upon his suspension, OCA additionally advised The Submit that Quirk was suspended for publishing the chief decide’s handle on social media. He has since retired as a courtroom officer however stays president of the officers’ union.
Quirk — who had been important of the courtroom system’s security measures in the course of the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak — additionally named state Senate Judiciary Committee Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and Senate counsel Erik Katz within the go well with.
He accused them of violating his free speech rights after he wasn’t invited to talk at a legislative listening to on the courtroom system’s response to the pandemic — a declare US District Decide Lewis Kaplan deemed “implausible to frivolous.”
Kaplan, in his 29-page ruling dated Sept. 13, additionally mentioned Quirk didn't show defamation or retaliation, discovering these claims had been “meritless.”
He mentioned DiFiore and the judiciary merely known as for a probe of Quirk based mostly on a courtroom officer’s electronic mail alleging discrimination — and concluded any of their feedback had free speech protections.
“It's a elementary precept of First Modification regulation that nobody could be chargeable for expressing their opinion . . . regardless of how unreasonable, excessive or inaccurate these opinions is likely to be,” the decide wrote.
“It might be an understatement to say that it's not less than as believable that Mr. Quirk was investigated and charged for trying to intimidate the state’s highest judicial officer than for his COVID-related feedback or any mixture of different causes nowhere talked about within the charging doc,” Kaplan mentioned.
An OCA spokesperson for DiFiore and the OCA applauded Kaplan’s ruling.
“Clearly Decide Kaplan discovered the whole thing of the lawsuit to be a paper tiger. It's weird and unlucky that Mr. Quirk continues to make use of Court docket Officer’s union assets, monetary and in any other case, to additional his private vendetta in opposition to senior directors of the Court docket System and the previous Chief decide,” mentioned OCA spokesman Lucian Chalfen.
Quirk mentioned he was disillusioned with the ruling however mentioned DiFiore is “not out of the woods” given the continued ethics probes.
The Fee on Judicial Conduct is reportedly investigating whether or not DiFiore improperly used her affect to induce courtroom officers to punish Quirk.
In the meantime, Quirk in August filed a separate ethics criticism in opposition to DiFiore with the judiciary calling for officers to strip her of her regulation license.
That criticism fees that DiFiore improperly intervened in his disciplinary case; refused to adjust to courtroom orders when the chief decide was sued by 46 older judges pressured out of their jobs; and dominated on instances as an alternative of recusing herself involving the regulation agency Greenberg Traurig, which personally represented her within the litigation involving the older judges.
Quirk additionally accused DiFiore of “conspiring” with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the appointment of 4 extra judges to the state Court docket of Claims to “clear the pathway” for the chief’s daughter, Alexandra Murphy, to run for and be elected to a seat on the state Supreme Court docket in Westchester County.
“We already pressured DiFiore to resign. The Fee of Judicial Conduct and the grievance committee are energetic instances in opposition to her,” Quirk mentioned.
He additionally mentioned he just lately filed a case with the Public Worker Relations Board alleging that DiFiore and OCA meddled in union affairs.
DiFiore, by a spokesman, beforehand dismissed the disbarment criticism filed by Quirk.
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