George Perez
Apparently it takes more than removal of a judge by the state senate to end a disciplinary case.
Former tax court judge George Perez has filed an appeal and notice of motion to vacate the panel decision and dismiss the appeal as moot; in response, the state has filed a notice of appeal and statement of the case.
A panel for the Board on Judicial Standards recommended that Perez be censured and suspended for nine months for judicial misconduct. It said that he failed to decide cases within three months as required by Minn. Stat. sec. 271.20 but certified that he had complied with the law in order to get paid.
The board’s appeal was to contest the panel’s recommended sanction. It had asked that the judge be removed from office.
The senate then did so. For reasons that are unclear, the senate had never confirmed Perez’ 2011 reappointment. After the panel’s decision, Governor Mark Dayton asked the senate to reject the reappointment, which it did on May 20.
UPDATE: Doug Kelley, the attorney for the Board on Judicial Standards, told Minnesota Lawyer on July 5 that he views the motion to vacate to be a “bit of procedural chicanery for the intended purpose of expunging the finding of censure.”
Kelley also noted that if a judge ceases to be a judge during the process of a disciplinary case, the matter is to be referred to the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board–unless it is vacated. Perez is not licensed in MInnesota but is licensed in Wisconsin, and the matter has been referred there, he said.
It is important to continue with the case even though Perez was removed by the Senate, Kelley said. “There was a finding that he made continuous false statements in order to get money. I think it’s appropriate that people know about that.”
Source: http://minnlawyer.com/minnlawyerblog/2013/07/03/both-sides-appeal-in-perez/
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