Hypothetical situation. Lets say I have a contract with someone that i loaned money to and charged an interest rate that was at the state maximum...for this situation lets say 29%. The judge knows he has to award me the judgement but scolds me for charging such a high interest rate. I get mad at the scolding and say "Oh yeah well you gotta award me the money and there aint nothing you can do about it." The judge then decides that since I was a smart alec he is going to order that the defendant doesnt have to pay me a penny.
If a judge abuses his power like this, what could someone do?
2007-09-28 11:41:58 · 16 answers · asked by Peilthetraveler 5 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
This was hypothetical. Its just I have been watching some of these court rulings on TV and sometimes it seems like the judge was being unfair because they didnt like the person. I was just wondering if there was anything you could do against the judge. I mean besides appealing it to get your butt out of trouble is there any way to go after the judge? A real situation i heard one time was a mexican immigrant came to court for a traffic ticket. he didnt speak english but was trying to explain what happened. The judge put him in jail for 75 days because he was speaking out of turn but nobody was translating for him. Stuff like that makes me mad and i just wanted to know what ordinary people could do.
2007-09-28 11:58:40 · update #1
1) Judges cannot break the law without consequence.
2) In your hypothetical as stated, he didn't break the law. He just found you to be an unbelievable, not credible witness based on your demeanor and ruled against you.
3) Judges on TV do not have to follow the rules actual judges follow. TV judges are actually private arbitrators. The parties have agreed to have their small claims court cases decided on TV and then the result will be entered in the official court records. But the TV judge can use any rule they want to come up with the decision.
4) The immigrant you describe was unfairly treated and the judge should have been censured and possibly removed from the bench.
The state judicial commission regulates judges. That's where you take your complaint.
2007-09-28 14:51:25 · answer #1 · answered by raichasays 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The answer is yes, the reality is judges can and do ignore the law in their rulings without consequences.
Just because you file and appeal and you are legally right does not mean that you will win on appeal. Appeal court judges are even more arrogant than lower court judges and will overrule a smart alec litigant (just because they can). Your only recourse then is a state Supreme Court, which pretty much means game over if they ignore your case.
2007-09-28 12:38:46 · answer #2 · answered by Ronin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The moral of the story is - Never get smart alecky with a judge. Whether you agree or not with what a judge says/decides, you just have to accept it. Arguing with a judge can land a person in the pokey (contempt of court). Not a good thing. Of interest in your story is that the judge yelled at you for charging a high interest rate (his opinion). You don't say whether the judge awarded the money or not.
2007-09-28 11:52:52 · answer #3 · answered by Richard B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The judge is subject to the law as a private citizen. For example, he speeds, gets a ticket. He hits someone in a bar, he gets arrested. He masturbates, and uses penis pumps during trials. Not within the scope of his duties, goes to jail.
Within the scope of his duties, acting as a judge in a legal case, he has nearly absolute immunity. The criminal syndicate that is the lawyer profession will protect him, absolutely. For example, every time the Supreme Court cancels a law, they are in out of control insurrection and need to be tried for treason and hanged. Never happen. Because they are a criminal syndicate protecting each other.
The sole recourse is to appeal to a higher court. He gets slightly embarrassed by a reversal. Period.
2007-09-28 12:34:14 · answer #4 · answered by buttfor2007 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Judges are expected to uphold the law, regardless of what they feel is right. In your hypothetical situation, you could appeal the decision to a higher court, which would overturn it.
But most states have laws restricting the interest rates that can be charged, so this may not be that simple.
2007-09-28 12:21:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nothing. He didn't break the law. He decided what he thought was fair. Judges create laws. Now that doesn't mean they can go out and murder someone and get away with it but all common laws are created by judges decisions. The law that said you should be awarded the money was just overrulled and therefore the law was changed. Now, hypothetically, future debtors will be able to cite that case because the judge awarded in favor of the debtor. That is until a higher court judge overrules his decision.
2007-09-28 11:47:47 · answer #6 · answered by Eisbär 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Judge abused his power? Hypothetically you were an idiot and got smart with him. You would be lucky he didn't throw you in jail. Hypothetically consider that to be a life lesson. Don't p*ss off the person who just awarded you money.
2007-09-28 11:45:07 · answer #7 · answered by Kenneth C 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You've got no cause of action against the judge b/c he has immunity so long as he was acting within the scope of his job.
How's this for a case?
Mom goes to judge and asks him to order her daughter be sterilized b/c the daughter is mentally retarded. He orders it and daughter is sterilized. Later in life she wants to have kids and discovers she had been sterilized. She sues the judge and loses b/c he was acting in his official capacity. I forgot the name of the case, but I rare extreme example of judges immunity.
2007-09-28 16:02:43 · answer #8 · answered by discmiss1 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely not--a judge cannot break the law without consequence. A local judge in our county was disbarred a couple of years ago when it was learned that he was fixing parking tickets for his cronies.
2007-09-28 11:52:41 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, i believe you have grounds for an appeal based on that that the judge was biased against you and ignored the law. you probably should not have gotten smart with him but he should have just held you in contept and fined you, he cannot ignore the law. you should consult an attorney but it sounds like you have grounds for an appeal
2007-09-28 11:46:27 · answer #10 · answered by pxyfox2000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋