Court Panel Dismisses Suit Against Judge, Commissioner

Three federal judges Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a civil rights suit filed against a Glendale Municipal Court judge and a court commissioner by a woman who claimed the court officials mishandled an eviction case in which she was a litigant.

Judge James Simpson and Commissioner Dona Bracke were accused of, among other things, imposing sanctions against Ofik Nazaryan without legal authority and intentionally misquoting court transcripts in order to rule against Nazaryan without permitting her a trial by jury.

The civil rights case that came to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is part of a broader array of alleged civil rights violations filed--mainly against Bracke--in the last few months.

In a separate case, Bracke awaits the outcome of a review by an independent judge concerning possible misconduct in her handling of numerous cases in which she jailed motorists cited for traffic offenses, because she mistrusted the insurance documents they presented.

In the civil rights case, a panel of three appellate judges had to decide whether Simpson and Bracke could be held personally liable in the outcome of Nazaryan’s eviction case.

Judges are usually legally immune from lawsuits to protect them from disgruntled litigants.

In upholding the dismissal, the appellate panel said the district court had correctly determined that the “defendants were entitled to judicial immunity.”

Lawyers for the judges and the commissioner had argued that the civil rights case was filed only after they ruled against Nazaryan in the original case.

Ken Carlson, the Glendale attorney who filed the case on behalf of Nazaryan, said he will take the case to the state Supreme Court.

In the original eviction case, Carlson said, he instructed his client not to sign a document that gives commissioners permission to preside over cases. But he said Bracke illegally took the case anyway.

In a later hearing, Carlson said Simpson intentionally misquoted Bracke’s instructions in court transcripts citing the date by which Nazaryan had to pay jury fees in order for the case to go to trial.

The fees were paid on time but Simpson denied a trial by jury in order to rule on the case himself, Carlson said.

Also, Bracke allegedly would call insurance companies to verify whether proof of insurance forms provided by cited motorists were legitimate.

When neither Bracke nor the bailiff could establish that the documents were genuine, she would jail the motorists on suspicion of perjury, Carlson said. There was no indication that any documents were false, and besides, Carlson said, the law does not allow judges to independently investigate cases.

An upcoming decision by an independent judge is supposed to determine whether Bracke, who has been suspended during the judge’s investigation, will be returned to the bench.