This tale of attorney discipline is one part tech failure and one part petty misogyny, and none of it is a good look.
A Michigan appeals court upheld the criminal contempt finding against attorney Marshall Tauber, decision available below, for comments he made at the close of a Zoom hearing.
Judge Yasmine I. Pole ruled against Tauber’s client, and at the close of the Zoom hearing he was heard saying: “Judge – – thank you. F****** c***.”
Yikes town! The trial court described the incident as follows:
While the Court is on the record with the Oakland County Jail still logged into the record, while the Court in its immediate sitting and view, [appellant] participated in willful disregard to the court’s authority by rendering a gender-based slur to the Court, the word which does not – – it does not fairly roll off my tongue as easily as it does [appellant’s] – – was, “f*** c.” That is, wow. Members of staff are also in the courtroom while [Tauber’s client], who the Court has gone back to review this video, appears himself to be in shock that the Court would be called such a thing.
According to Tauber, he believed he was no longer connected to the Zoom (he was attending the virtual hearing from his car, and the screen went black and he mistakenly thought he was disconnected). During the contempt hearing, Tauber’s attorney said he was “technologically inept,” and did not intend for anyone else to hear the slur. But the appeals court said just because this happened during a virtual hearing “does not preclude a finding that misconduct or insolent behavior by an attorney constitutes contempt.”
The appellate court also shot down the argument that Tauber’s action weren’t willful because they were uttered in frustration.
“But, the term ‘willful’ for purposes of criminal contempt does not require such an intention. Rather, the willful disregard consists of a statement that tends to impair the court’s authority or impedes its functioning.” The court continued, “Demeaning or belittling the trial court, particularly in front of a client, erodes the public’s confidence in the judicial system.”
Tauber told the ABA Journal he intends to appeal the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court:
“When your activities are in that gray area of the ether where the court controls when you’re off the so-called air, when are you out of the court?” Tauber says in an ABA Journal interview. “I thought I was out of the court when I said thank you, your honor.”
Tauber estimates that six to eight seconds elapsed between the time he thanked the judge and when he made the remarks.
“They weren’t directed at her, they weren’t intended to be insulting to her, they were just my thought at that moment,” he says. “And I didn’t think I was in the courtroom.”
That sure doesn’t read like the airtight defense he seems to think it is.
The post Turns Out, You Shouldn’t Call The Judge A ‘F*cking C*nt’ appeared first on Above the Law.
