It’s actually a court, though the show pays the fines. That’s why if she REALLY wants to stick it to someone, she finagles it so it’s not just money, or there are conditions. Idk who told you she was disbarred, but that’s not true.
Going by fault memory I heard something along the lines of in one of her cases she decided she had the power to stop a parents access to a child and was sued over it, could be fake news though.
She was a family court judge before she was a TV judge. She doesn’t do anything with access to a child on the show - in fact, if you watch, she will specifically point out she can’t do that in this role. She can’t be sued personally as a judge, either - qualified immunity. So that sounds like fake news.
Judges can definitely be sued in NY (where she sat on the bench). They have qualified immunity and the case will be dismissed as long as they acted within the duties of their job, but anyone can file a lawsuit against a judge or anyone really. Often they are filed as Article 78 Petitions. I’d say the majority of judges get sued at some point in their career, it’s not really a knock on them as long as they acted above board, they work in a job where by definition 50% of the people they interact with leave unhappy. It’s bound to happen especially when everyone they see is already in some kind of legal battle.
Depends on how you define "court". In the U.S legal system the show technicly falls under private arbitration. There is a real dispute, the parties are bound by the decistion, and the settlement is final. (No case can be brought on the same set of facts in another court), and government courts may issue enforcemnt orders based on the result.
And I believe they pull actual cases/disputes out of the local small claims dockets and offer to arbitrate them.
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u/obtusewisdom Feb 27 '25
It’s actually a court, though the show pays the fines. That’s why if she REALLY wants to stick it to someone, she finagles it so it’s not just money, or there are conditions. Idk who told you she was disbarred, but that’s not true.