New York Post

JUDGED UNWORTHY

‘Unfeeling’ city jurist should get boot: panel

- By JULIA MARSH jmarsh@nypost.com

The clock has finally run out for an Upper East Side judge who ridiculed a lawyer with cerebral palsy and allowed cases involving tenants without heat or hot water to drag on, sources told The Post.

The Manhattan Housing Court’s advisory council, which reviews its judges after each four-year term, recently ruled that jurist Susan Avery should get the boot — as it catalogued years of complaints against her, sources said.

Avery’s chief-judge boss is now set to follow through on the recommenda­tion by the end of the year, according to sources.

“Considerin­g the complaints against her, it’s about time for her to leave the bench,” said Alan Flacks, a longtime local resident pushing for judicial reform.

Avery (inset), 52, of East 84th Street, landed her $175,000-a-year job in 2012 thanks to a political appointmen­t by then-Chief Judge Gail Prudenti.

But she started demonstrat­ing poor judgment from the bench almost immediatel­y, according to the 14-member Advisory Council for the Housing Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York.

In 2013, Avery reprimande­d a lawyer with cerebral palsy for his sloppy handwritin­g, the panel said in its four-page finding, which called the judge “unfeeling.’’ The incident resulted in a letter of caution being placed in Avery’s file, according to a court source.

The council — made up of representa­tives from both the realestate industry and tenants’ organizati­ons, appointed by the mayor and governor — also criticized Avery for “excessive multiweek adjournmen­ts” for cases involving lack of heat and hot water, according to the letter, a copy of which was read to The Post.

The advisory council said in its decision last month that the New York Law School grad showed a general “lack of concern” for the litigants before her.

The council added it was “disturbed further” by conflicts of interest involving the Housing Court judge’s family real-estate holdings.

A court source said Avery failed to disclose that a law firm administer­ing a family trust also regularly represents landlords in cases before the judge.

Meanwhile, the jurist garnered a “not approved” rating by the city Bar Associatio­n — twice.

Voters also refused to back her two bids to move up to Civil Court.

In the summer of 2016, a judge who was running against Avery for a Civil Court seat lodged a complaint over her campaign tactics.

Justice Sabrina Kraus, who was appointed to the bench in 2005, accused Avery’s boyfriend of making derogatory comments about her Iranian heritage on Facebook.

Avery failed to disavow the remarks, showing ethnic bias, the advisory panel added. Kraus beat Avery to win the seat. Avery ran for Civil Court again this year but lost in the September primary.

Avery did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The former chief judge who appointed her, Prudenti, said she had no memory of choosing her.

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