Appeals court to decide whether Justice James Tormey can be sued by former clerk

Syracuse, NY - A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments Monday to determine whether 5th Judicial District Administrative Justice James Tormey III will face trial on allegations he forced an employee from her job for refusing to spy on another judge eight years ago. The sole issue before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is...

Syracuse, NY - A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments Monday to determine whether 5th Judicial District Administrative Justice James Tormey III will face trial on allegations he forced an employee from her job for refusing to spy on another judge eight years ago.

The sole issue before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is whether Tormey and three other defendants have “qualified immunity” against the civil lawsuit filed by Bobette Morin, a former chief clerk of Onondaga County Family Court. They would have immunity if the court finds their conduct did not violate Morin’s constitutional rights.

U.S. District Judge David Hurd has twice rejected the claim and other challenges to the lawsuit.

Morin claims she was driven out of her job by Tormey, former executive assistant John Voninski, Family Court Judge Bryan Hedges and Hedges’ law clerk, William Dowling, because she refused to gather dirt for Tormey on Democratic Family Court Judge David Klim in his unsuccessful bid for state Supreme Court in 2002. Klim died in 2006.

The lawsuit also casts aspersions on other elected officials.

Bobette Morin

Morin filed the lawsuit in May 2007 after losing her chief clerk’s position and taking a slightly lower-paying attorney-referee’s position in Oswego County.

She claims her refusal to spy on Klim resulted in her being moved to a basement office, put in another office with a leaky bathroom overhead and transferred to handle menial tasks in Lewis and Oneida counties. She claims officials used her absence to solicit complaints from court workers in Onondaga County in a campaign to remove her from her job.

James Tormey III

Tormey, the administrative judge since 2001, denies asking Morin to spy on Klim for political reasons. He claims he asked Morin to keep tabs on Klim’s court because Klim was constantly falling behind with his caseload.

Tormey contends Morin had no discretion to reject the assignment based on her subjective assessment of his motivation. Her lawsuit amounts to a confession to insubordination and a violation of the public trust, he says.

He also contends he saved Morin from being fired by asking court officials to find her a new position at comparable pay after an Inspector General’s report recommended she be fired. That report concluded Morin generated conflict and created a hostile work environment, similar to the findings reached in a 1997 investigation of Morin by the Equal Employment Opportunity Office, Tormey contends.

Morin was paid $118,483 as chief clerk. She makes $117,28 as a court attorney/referee.

Bryan Hedges

Morin’s papers contend Hedges allowed her to be undermined as the court’s chief clerk through a campaign run by his secretary, Kelly Militi, and law clerk Dowling.

Morin claims Militi solicited complaints from other court workers and that anyone who refused faced retaliation. Morin claims Dowling basically took over the operation of Family Court, getting supply requests and employee vacancy positions filled when Morin couldn’t.

She claims Hedges warned her several times of a plot to remove her and then participated when he announced to Family Court workers that Dowling would take over all decision-making authority from her in January 2007.

David Klim

Tormey’s side obtained court orders denying Morin’s side access to any documents relating to Klim, only to then file those same documents as public court exhibits.

U.S. Magistrate Andrew Baxter called that “gross negligence” in an April decision and ordered Tormey, the other defendants and their state lawyer to pay a $2,000 fine. Baxter amended that order in July, directing only the lawyer to pay.

Tormey’s paperwork includes documents showing Klim once billed the state for attending a conference in New York City when the conference actually was in Albany. Klim acknowledged the error, claimed he hadn’t seen a notice beforehand that the conference had been moved to Albany, and repaid the state for the trip to New York.

Tormey claims he initially kept the information about Klim confidential to protect Klim’s reputation and that of the judiciary. He claims any damage to Klim’s reputation is being done by Morin’s “efforts to weave the reputation of a well-respected deceased member of the judiciary into a fictitious civil rights claim.”

Tormey, a Republican, also claims that he and Klim, a Democrat, had a friendly relationship. Klim’s widow, Barbara, disputes that in an affidavit, claiming her husband frequently expressed his dislike for and distrust of Tormey.

James Walsh and William Fitzpatrick

Former U.S. Rep. James Walsh and District Attorney William Fitzpatrick are not parties in the lawsuit. Their names, however, come up in Morin’s claims that the local court system under Tormey is a hotbed of political nepotism. Hurd concluded there was sufficient circumstantial evidence of nepotism to allow the case to proceed.

Morin contends:

• Gina Glover, Walsh’s cousin’s wife, was hired in 2005, at Tormey’s recommendation, for a court attorney/referee position, without having the required number of years as a lawyer.
• Around the same time, Walsh recommended Tormey’s son be admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy. (Walsh said the son and nine others were recommended by a citizens committee. He said he followed the committee’s recommendation, as he routinely did.)
• Glover’s inexperience resulted in a delay of more than a year in the implementation of a special court section to handle child neglect matters and monitor the permanent placement of children in foster care or other settings. (Tormey claims Morin hindered the court’s implementation.)
• Walsh’s sister, Family Court Judge Martha Walsh Hood, and Glover could not work in the same court due to a familial relationship, so Hood was made an acting state Supreme Court justice. That job pays $11,100 more and left family court understaffed by one judge.
William Fitzpatrick
• Fitzpatrick and Tormey are former law school roommates and Dowling previously worked for Fitzpatrick in the DA’s office.


• Hedges has cited difficult relations with Tormey after they competed for the same judicial seat and claimed retaliation by other Republicans for not stepping aside to let Fitzpatrick’s wife run for his Family Court seat. Diane Fitzpatrick later was appointed to a Court of Claims position. (Fitzpatrick said there never had been any retaliation based on his wife’s unsuccessful attempt to get a family court nomination.)