Oakland County Judge Lisa Gorcyca plans to contest a report finding she committed judicial misconduct in a child custody dispute that gained international headlines, her lawyer, Thomas Cranmer, told the Free Press today.
“While we respect the process, we were both surprised and disappointed with the master’s report,” Cranmer said in a news release. “We believe that both the facts and the law support Judge Gorcyca’s position.”
Editor’s Note: The parents settled their custody case and both parties are not speaking to the media (which must and should have been the terms of the settlement.) The court records are also being sealed like they should have been.
The controversial Family Court Critics Group tried this case on the Internet and are pressuring judges to rule in their favor. The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission system appears to be the real system that is broken in that it allowed public hearings on an ongoing custody case. This was an embarrassment to the legal system. In addition, this commission should not have been allowed to weigh-in on the custody case. In our self-correcting legal system, it is hopeful that the this appeal and the Michigan Supreme Court will overturn or ignore this findings.
There are certainly lesson learned in this case.
- Court investigator or evaluators that are authoring custody reports should not bring up Charles Manson in your report. If any judge in America mentions this is a court room, they are easy targets for the media and any investigator.
- Any custody litigant that gets a unfavorable ruling in Michigan Family Law Court should file a complaint against the judge with the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.
- Michigan Family Law Judges should seal court documents in all Family Law Custody Cases and issue gag orders against all parties involved.
