THANK YOU NO-THANK YOU

 We just got finished with a few days of travel- even in this time of Zoom some judges want lawyers in court. Plus we can use the miles to keep our  Platinum status on American. So let's review some history and catch up. Truman beat Dewey. Nixon resigned and so did Mike Mirabal. His paperwork has been filed, he's out the end of April and lawyers everywhere in Dade are pulling out those JNC applications and updating them: "Conducted 54 Zoom hearings in 2020 and redid the back room and achieved a 2210 rating on Chess dot com. 

 

 Think Daryl Dawkins. Moses Malone. Kareem. Wilt. Standing in the center and REJECTING the layup of the hapless NBA'er who dared to drive the lane. Dikembe Mutombo wagging a finger after an epic rejection. 

That is what the Florida Supreme Court did on Thursday when it wrote an order that was basically a "thank you...no-thank you" to Judge Martin Zilber and his erstwhile quest to put the whole "Whistling Dixie" complaint behind him.  The Tallahassee Nine  Seven rejected the settlement Zilber and his counsel to the stars and judges -David Rothman- obtained. The case was sent back for a full evidentiary hearing. A judge will be appointed. Witnesses will be called. Cross examination must be conducted. Sounds like a job for....nah...we do not represent those who wear black robes to work. No Harry Potter for us and no Judges as clients. 

There will be a trial. There will be findings (dum da dum dum) and there will be a recommendation and there will be endless speculation on whether The Florida Supreme Court will accept the punishment or impose its own as is its wont. 

DIXIE 
I wish I didn't hire Dixie
as my JA as my JA 
Against Dixie's complaint I'll take the  stand  
and defend my job she wants me to aband
Away, Away, Away with you JA  Dixie!

AN INTERVENTION

If things weren't ugly before now...they are ugly and getting uglier. 

Judge Zilber's former Judicial Assistant, not satisfied with the discipline recommended by the JQC, has filed a motion in our own Florida Supreme Court to intervene. In the motion she is seeking additional and enhanced sanctions against Judge Zilber, her former employer. She wants him disbarred. She wants him impeached. She wants his name stricken from the rolls of attorneys and to never be spoken of again. She wants him rereferred to the International Court at the Hague for prosecution for war crimes. She wants him removed from the European Union. Well, she wants some of those things. Take a look and remember....

Hell hath no fury like a judicial assistant scorned.  (especially one who had to move furniture). 

Intervene by HR on Scribd

HERALD SLAMS ZILBER

 In a positively Rumpolian editorial, the Miami Herald (who we suspect may just be reading this blog) "slammed" Judge Zilber and called for the Florida Supreme Court to "slam" Judge Zilber.  The Editorial is here.  

The "Tiger Slam" in golf is winning all four major tournaments consecutively, albeit over two years.  The "Zilber-Slam" shall be forever known as getting slammed by the JQC, Rumpole, and The Miami Herald, in that order.  Not to be confused with the "Full Ginsberg", which is media speak for appearing on all the Sunday morning nationwide news talk shows in one morning including Meet the Press, Face the Nation, The Week On ABC,  (Trump's) Fox News Sunday, and the Late Edition on CNN. The term is so named after attorney William H Ginsburg, who accomplished it on February 1, 1998, while defending one Monica Lewinsky. 

From the Herald Slam: 

Here’s one more achievement for Martin Zilber’s scrapbook: The Miami-Dade Circuit judge is facing a 60-day suspension and $30,000 fine for routinely skipping work, ordering his staff to run personal errands for him and, yes, having a staffer assemble a scrapbook of his achievements. 

(ouch)

...

In addition to being in charge of the judge’s calendar and running his office, this beleaguered woman also was forced to work on the scrapbook. Once, according to the JQC, he asked this pregnant assistant to wheel his chair up “several floors to the courtroom and then lift it onto the dais prior to hearings.”

We can only hope the judge wasn’t seated in the chair when he made her do this.

(Yowza! What a shot! We are seriously jealous of whomever wrote that Zilber-Zinger). 

...And once the coronavirus pandemic hit, he hit the road — to Malibu, California, for a week.

Well as they say in the Media, "This story has legs"- just not the ones attached to a certain formerly pregnant JA. 

In all seriousness, the pompousness of the Judge's behavior and his  treatment of his staff speaks volumes and is what is fueling this story we believe. Judges -especially during the pandemic- just don't have a lot to do at times. At other times, despite what this blog sometimes implies, they work very long and hard, slogging through trial after trial, separating the legal wheat from the inadmissible chafe.  

So the Judge not being in Court is no big deal to us. But we think the insight into his character by the way he has been reported to treat his staff- ordering them to run personal errands, driving him around as is he is some celebrity,  creating some ego-driven scrap book, moving furniture for goodness sakes- all of this speaks to a person with a big ego who thinks they are special. The best judges we know are the ones who know they are not special. The judges who truly act on the belief that they are privileged to hold their position. We see these judges- the ones who are in their chambers brewing coffee for their jurors and the lawyers; the ones who are photocopying cases and doing whatever needs to be done to move a calendar and a case. This is what is so offensive about the reported conduct, and this is what is giving the story the "legs" we are talking about. 

CALFORNIA CASE LAW PART TWO

 Rumpole for the defense. 

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. You have heard the evidence. When last seen, the victim, one Judge Martin Zilber, was staggering out of the JQC with a knife in his back. And the prosecutor wants you to convict my client, Judge Zilber's former judicial assistant, of the crime. 

But lets do what the prosecutor has not done and apparently will not do. Let us look at the evidence not by saying "why did she do it" but "did she do it?"

The prosecutor says there was motive. Judge Zilber had her do his shopping on line, he had her not file leave slips when he was in Malibu, he had her moving furniture while pregnant. 

But as we say in the law, Cui Bono?  Which is Latin for "who benefits"? 

We all know that after leaving her position as a judicial assistant, Ms. Moneypenny went to work for an attorney. Now this is not just any attorney, it is an attorney who specializes in defending litigants facing mortgage foreclosures. This lawyer fights for the little guys against the big, bad banks. And this lawyer is notorious, coming into conflict with not just many judges, but panels of the Third District Court of Appeals, who after one contentious oral argument saw fit to refer this lawyer to the Florida Bar. 

Now where was the victim of this stabbing assigned? The civil division. And what types of cases did he handle you may ask?

[dramatic pause...deep voice] M o  r  t g  a  g  e   F o r e c l o s u r e s!

The Daily Business Review has reported that the JA went to this lawyer and told him that the Judge unfairly targeted the lawyer's foreclosure defense clients. 

And who actually prepared the JQC complaint? Was it Ms. Moneypenny alone? 

NO! You heard the evidence it was Moneypenny along with her new employer. 

This was not, ladies and gentlemen of the jury murder most foul, it was a more baser motive..it was VENGEANCE 

VENEGEANCE which the bible teaches us is reserved alone for the almighty. Vengeance is mine sayeth the lord! 

It was not Ms. Moneypenny who stabbed our good judge. It was not the butler in the laundry room with the candlestick. It was the lawyer, defender of foreclosures, angry at the judiciary, looking to strike back at the evil empire who takes homes away from his clients. It was the lawyer  who slipped the knife in when no one was looking. 

My client is not guilty. 

Item: The DBR has reported that Judge Zilber's former JA went to a foreclosure defense lawyer who helped her prepare the JQC complaint and then hired her to work for him. A veritable love fest.  It does not excuse Judge Zilber's self admitted conduct, but it sure puts a different spin on this case. 

Item: Where in the world was Judge Zilber was part of the JQC investigation. Exclusive to the blog is evidence that was proven that Judge Zilber was NOT on Mars checking out the Ingenuity Helicopter. 

CALIFORNIA CASE LAW A TWO PART SERIES

"I was reading case law...lots and lots of case law". 

That was the defense of Miami Judge Martin Zilber to the JQC complaint that he was not in his chambers or courtroom when he was supposed to be. That...(prepare to be shocked, and please send small children out of the room) the Judge took MORE TIME OFF then he was allowed to take. (cue ominous music).

Now we have two questions- first, what case law was he reading and, 2- where was he reading it. 

(foggy dream sequence chambers of Judge Zilber. Dramatis Personae- Judge Zilber; JA (more on her tomorrow). )

JZ: What's on the calendar tomorrow Moneypenny?

JA: 35 criminal cases set for report, plus arraignments. 

JZ: Any of those cases need PD appointments?

JA: Yes sir.

JZ: Then get me Giddeon v. Wainwright.  Any of those cases involve confessions? 

JA: Yes sir. 

JZ. Then get me the Miranda decision. Also, throw in Marbury v. Madison to review.

Now, with the understanding of great legal study taking place, where was the studying occurring? 

The Miami Dade Court law library? (stop laughing, we once saw a judge in there in 1979).  UM Law Campus? Harvard Law? No, no and no. 

The studious judge was some place more studious, more synonymous with intense legal study, meditation, contemplation, not to mention swimming pools and movie stars (obscure reference to Beverly Hillbillies  for those of you under 50) ....MALIBU!. 

Yes Malibu, that land of beaches and California  where significant legal issues are endlessly debated. Walk by any Vegan Cafe in Malibu and you're likely to hear "The Oklahoma Supreme Court is taking a hard look at the exclusionary rule. Meanwhile have you seen what that appellate court in Maine wrote about police stops?' It was in this bastion of legal study that Judge Zilber repaired to for repast and reflection that has the JQC up in arms. 

A PATRON OF THE ARTS

You never know what is going to come out of a JQC investigation. It's like an IRS audit, but more painful. It turns out our legal scholar is also a patron of the arts. Judge Zilber admitted to using his staff for personal errands like on-line shopping ("Should I click the set up monthly delivery button on Amazon Ms. Moneypenny?" "No sir. No one needs that much fiber and shoe polish. One batch should be enough for the rest of the year."), registering his car (in retrospect better to have a JQC complaint about an expired tag then this mess), and sending his overworked and underpaid bailiff to Miami Beach to get him Art Basel tickets. On this we give the judge a pass. Call it "Rumpole's Patron of the Arts exception". We all need a little more culture in our lives. 

Unfortunately the Judge also asked his JA to "Keep a personal scrapbook of his achievements"  (wonder if this will make it?) and wheel his chair up several floors and put it on the bench while his JA was pregnant. Hey- women wanted to be treated like equals right? The bailiff was unavailable and how would it look for a judge, robes flapping, hauling furniture around the courthouse? A pregnant woman was sure to engender some sympathy and a nice stranger would surely step in and help the pregnant woman. Not. 

Zilber's defense: "I only asked the staff to do this. I did not tell them." (He really said this). This is nice to know.  Judge: "I hereby sentence you to five years in prison."  Defendant: "Are you asking me or telling me?" 

THE CONSPIRACY 

Every former PD and ASA will tell you the surest way to get caught in a crime is to bring in a partner. Do it yourself, and there is no one to flip on you. Zilber, who does not have a background in criminal law learned this lesson the hard way. He asked his JA to falsify his documents that he has to file that account for his time. Now there is a co-conspirator and witness and this was his downfall. 

Did you know our Miami Circuit has an administrative order that judges can only take off 30 days a year? (really). The JQC found that between January 21, 2019 and March 31, 2020, the Judge took off 51 days without authorization. The operative part of the finding is that this is when he was assigned to civil. Because once you hear he was in civil, the response is "Oh...he was in civil. Big deal." 

Here is the show stopper, directly from the report: 

Zilber during the same period. Judge Zilber testified that on some of the days he was absent without authorization in 2019, he was working remotely from home reading case law or preparing for hearings.

Rumpole says, a judges work is never done. From sun up to sun down, its case law case law case law. And trial prep-don't forget that. Just how does a judge prep for trial? They don't make openings or closings or question witnesses. Wait! We know. They prepare voir dire! That must be it. He was writing out individual voir dire questions for every case set for trial, based on his extensive review of the facts of the case. Of course. 

From the report: 

 The Commission also found that during the week of August 3, 2020, Judge Zilber took a week-long vacation to Malibu, California without making the proper leave notifications or requests. In fact, the Commission found that he instructed his JA to not submit a leave request or ask for coverage for that absence because he was going to be working remotely anyway. Judge Zilber testified that he planned to, and did, sign orders, and continued to participate remotely in legal community events, read case law, and prepare for hearings set for the following week. However, instead of remotely attending to his regularly scheduled hearings and dockets, Judge Zilber instructed his JA to cancel and reschedule the hearings and dockets from the week of August 3 to another time.

During the pandemic the judges were supposed to keep a diary of their activities (Ok  a log but we like the dairy image better). Zilber committed a boo-boo: 

There is also a blank space for "notes". For the week of his August 3 vacation, Judge Zilber instructed his JA to list two motion hearings on the pandemic log, and four "special set" hearings. While the Commission was able to determine that Judge Zilber did remotely conduct two emergency motion hearings on Friday August 7, 2020, the Commission also determined that the four "special set hearings" listed on the pandemic log were, in fact, social and/or educational Zoom meetings including a Cuban American Bar Association luncheon, a Florida Bar town hall meeting, and a swearing in ceremony. In response to the Commission's Notice ofInvestigation, Judge Zilber stated that, when he told his JA to list the other functions, he misunderstood the purpose of the log, and believed it was designed to give the Administrative Judge a general perspective of the activities that judges were engaged in during the pandemic while working remotely.

Rumpole notes we have a circuit court judge given the power of life and death who must interpret difficult statutes and case law, and he cannot figure out how to keep a diary? Puhleeze.  On the other hand, now that we know "special set hearings=CABA Luncheons" we can ask for more continuances: 

"I'm sorry Judge, I cannot try the case the week of May 3, I have a special set hearing on Wednesday." Judge: "What is that hearing counsel?" Rumpole: "The National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys Spa Day. It's at the Fontainebleau and I never miss it. The massages are great"

Here is something sure to strike fear in the hearts of Judges everywhere: 

the Commission also believes that it is not unreasonable to expect that a judge serving in a trial-level court, especially one as busy as the 11th Judicial Circuit, be generally present at the courthouse during normal court hours.  Cue Dolly Parton Video: "Working 9 to 5 what a way to make a living. Granting Summary judgment motions, and reading case law by the ocean." (Pacific Ocean).

TOMMORROW: THE UNKNOWN STORY 

Think this is the end of the Judge Z story? It is just the beginning. There is a story behind the story, one filled with intrigued, revenge, and of course mortgage foreclosure litigation. Coming Sunday. 

zilber fidings by HR on Scribd