An excerpt from today's Appellate Court of Connecticut decision in Ambrose v. Ambrose, written by Judge Alexandra Davis DiPentima and joined by Chief Judge William Bright and Judge Bethany Alvord:
The primary issue in this writ of error challenging the disbarment of an attorney is whether her due process rights were violated by the procedure used by the first defendant in error, Hon. Thomas G. Moukawsher. The plaintiff in error, Nickola J. Cunha, who is the former attorney for a party in the underlying dissolution action, challenges in this writ of error the order of Judge Moukawsher disbarring her from the practice of law. [Apparently such one-judge disbarment orders are generally authorized under Connecticut law, though my sense is that they are unauthorized or at least uncommon in many other states. -EV]
In 2019, the plaintiff, Christopher Ambrose, commenced a dissolution action against the defendant, Karen Ambrose, who was represented by Cunha. Trial in the dissolution action began in March, 2021. As explained by the second defendant in error, Hon. Gerard I. Adelman, judge trial referee, in the April 26, 2022 memorandum of decision dissolving the marriage and explaining the delay in doing so, "the defendant began to simply not appear for the trial and [Cunha] began to make derogatory comments about the court and its proceedings. Accordingly, the court referred the complaints to the Regional Family Trial Docket's presiding judge, [Moukawsher, J.], for a hearing."
At a November 22, 2021 hearing concerning the referred matters, Judge Moukawsher noted that there was no pending motion to disqualify to decide. After the defendant, through Cunha, filed a motion to disqualify Judge Adelman from the proceedings on the ground of bias, on December 1, 2021, a hearing was held on the motion to disqualify. At that hearing, Judge Moukawsher asked Cunha to indicate specific parts of the transcripts of the dissolution proceedings that explained her claims of bias.
Cunha stated that the record in its totality would show that Judge Adelman was biased against women who claim abuse, individuals with disabilities, and anyone not of the Jewish faith. In support of these claims, she provided only examples of Judge Adelman's rulings adverse to her client. Judge Moukawsher repeatedly requested that Cunha provide evidence to support her claims of bias rather than simply relying on the issuance of adverse rulings and stated at one point, "You're a lawyer. You know I need to have evidence. You can't just assert things." Judge Moukawsher further stated at one point that, "it can't be just simply you don't like his rulings …."
