THREE FAIRFAX COUNTY SUBSTITUTE JUDGES SHARE LEAD FOR MOST MOTIONS FILED /Law firms flaunt judgeships, violate canons

[Baris & Garrity, 1994] In considering the parental alienation syndrome, it is important to keep in mind that it is defined by no agreed-upon set of criteria; nor has scientific research documented its existence or completely described its clinical manifestations. Nonetheless, parental alienation is very real ... [I]t may first surface and become recognizable when visitation arrangements are being worked out. Sometimes one parent uses the legal system to delay, postpone, and draw out the litigation ... An alienating parent may agree to a visitation schedule only to undermine it once it has been adopted ... More court dates are set and reset; more hearings are scheduled and postponed. The ongoing legal proceedings become an asset for the alienating parent, a way to an indefinite delay in reaching a conclusion about visitation imposed by anyone but themselves.

A total of eighteen motions were filed by three Fairfax County substitute judges in one month. Michael Devine, Steven Garver, and Bruce White separately submitted six motions to share the lead for the most motions filed in March by substitute judges. The three are from among seventeen competing attorneys who were selected by a 19th Judicial Circuit chief judge and the Committee on District Courts to serve as subs, that is, to both rule on cases and represent clients, often in the same courthouse.

Part-time sub-judges and full-time sitting-judges perform the same duties, exercise the same power and authority, and are subject to the same obligations, according to Virginia law.

The practice of relying on part-time judges to work both sides of the bench, subbing in some cases and litigating in others, is unheard-of outside of Virginia and would even appear to encourage and support “activities” that are “incompatible” if we can trust Article VI, Section 11, of the Constitution of Virginia. Few substitute judges who also practice law are not active members of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and some flaunt their substitute judge status in Martindale-Hubbell, for example, or on law firm Internet websites (see GARVER LAW OFFICES / Who We Are / Steven M. Garver / “He also serves as a substitute judge …” / retrieved 04.01.07 and COLTEN CUMMINS WATSON & VINCENT P.C. / Attorney Profiles / Richard J. Colten / "He was a Substitute Judge ... and serves ... as a Circuit Court Judge Pro Tempore by judicial appointment." / retrieved 04.01.07), in defiance of Commonwealth of Virginia Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee Opinion 99-1 (1999) as promulgated by the Canons of Judicial Conduct for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Canon 2B specifies that substitute judges should not “convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge.” And Canon 6C dictates that substitute judges “are required to comply with the canons.”

February results show substitute judge Edward O’Connor finishing first, with a grand total of seven motions filed. Substitute judge Sandra Havrilak accomplished six motions for second place.

"Friday Motions Day" activity records are presented for two (2) categories in the column on the right of the MOMMY GO BYE-BYE blog. There readers will find statistics for "Substitute Judge Monthly Filings" and "This Week's Frequent Filers." Whereas the "weekly filers" list is reserved for local domestic relations lawyers (and domestic relations substitute judges), the "monthly filings" list is surveying all 19th Judicial Circuit/District substitute judges in all practice areas.

... while most substitute judges are practicing lawyers, most practicing lawyers are not substitute judges ...

[SPECIAL NOTE BY VW] "...your article fails to acknowledge that often it is the lawyer who is the frequent filer. And the frequent-filing lawyer is one who commits barratry. Barratry is a criminal offense. I hope our judges in Virginia are reading..."

Veronique Wyvell, RN
Member, Fairfax County Network Against Family Abuse
Founder, MOMMY GO BYE-BYE: Mothers Against Unjust Law
7831 Enola Street, #TA7, McLean, Virginia 22102
VWyvell@patriot.net

MAUL (Mothers Against Unjust Law) Goals:
Rebuttable PRESUMPTIONS Against Custody for Batterers
PPAs (Parenting Plan Agreements) before Litigation
Moratorium on CCEs (Child Custody Evaluations)
MINIMUM Parent-Time Schedules (UTAH Code)
JURY Trials (in Domestic Relations Cases)
PROTECTIVE Parent Reform Acts
DIGITAL Courtroom Records
ALI's Approximation Rule
TERM LIMITS for Judges

. . .
ADDENDA

SUBSTITUTE JUDGES IN VIRGINIA
Listing by Judicial District
www.courts.state.va.us/substitute.pdf

-1-

William Eugene Buyrn
Philip J. Infantino
Robert G. MacDonald
Corrynn Jessica Peters
Shepelle Watkins-White
John Edward Zydron

-2-

Bobby Wayne Davis
Cheshire I'Anson Eveleigh
James Clayton Lewis
Robert Gray Morecock
Mary Keating O'Neill
Michael Anthony Robusto
Thomas B. Shuttleworth
Constantine A. Spanoulis

-2A-

W. Revell Lewis III
John W. Wescoat

-3-

Jesse E. Demps
Diane Pomeroy Griffin
Richard N. Levin
Edward H. McNew Jr.
George Minor Jr.
Anthony J. Nicolo

-4-

Peter G. Decker Jr.
Michael A. Glasser
I. Lionel Hancock III
Joseph R. Lassiter Jr.
Joseph C. Lindsey
Joseph T. McFadden Jr.
Andrew A Protogyrou
Robert McLanahan Smith III
Kelly B. St. Clair
Gordon B. Jr. Tayloe
Robert G. Winters

-5-

Robert W. Jones Jr.
Joshua Pretlow Jr.
Charles B. Rowe

-6-

C. Ridley Bain
Peter D Eliades
John C. Gould
W. Curtis Outten Jr.
Thomas H. Rose Jr.

-7-

Robert W. Lawrence
Michael Stephen Mulkey
Bert A. Nachman
Michael Scott Stein
Clara P. Swanson
Clyde M. Weaver
Holly Anne White

-8-

James R. Harris III
S. Frear Hawkins II
Tonya Henderson-Stith
Deborah S. Roe
David M. Tichanski

-9-

B. Elliott Bondurant
Edward L. Chambers Jr.
Julianne B. Dias
Richard H. Rizk
Michael T. Soberick
Susan K. Tarley

-10-

Carol B. Gravitt
Bruce E Robinson
John R. Snoddy III

-11-

William D. Allen III
Phillip T. Distanislao
Joseph O. Humphreys
Ray P. Lupold III
Denis J. McCarthy

-12-

Charles W. Beddow Sr.
Duane Gregory Carr
Margaret A. Englisby
David L. Hauck
Keith Nelson Hurley
Deborah O. Jennings
Philip A. Roberts Jr.
Travis R. Williams
Richmond A. Wollstein

-13-

Susan C. Armstrong
Lewis T. Booker
William G. Broaddus
George Barton Chucker
Rondelle D. Herman
Rene S. Hicks
Leonard W. Lambert
William Reilly Marchant
Steven Colin McCallum
Janipher W. Robinson
John A. Rockecharlie
J. Alvernon Smith Jr.
Esther J. Windmueller

-14-

Edwin A. Bischoff
Thomas O. Bondurant Jr.
Craig S. Cooley
Michael HuYoung
David R. Lett
John W. Luxton
N. Kendall Newsom
Robert B. Parkerson
James C. Roberts

-15-

Russell Earl Allen
William A. Cosby Jr.
R. Craig Evans
William E. Glover
Beverly J. Haney
Herbert Moseley Hewitt
Scot A Katona
Valerie J. Mayo
Yvonne Justine Nageotte
Tandy B. Rinehart
V. James Ventura

-16-

David B. Franzen
R. Jefferson Garnett
Sheila C. Haughey
Annie Lee Jacobs
Edgar F. Puryear Jr.
Deborah S. Tinsley

-17-

Brendan K. Feeley
Daniel S. Fiore
Griffin T. Garnett III
William Barnes Lawson Jr.
Daniel Tomas Lopez
David A. Oblon
Betty Moore Sandler
David Alan Sattler
Earl E. Shaffer
Ken M. Smith

-18-

Donald R. Allen
David S. Bracken
James C. Clark
Sharron A. FitzGerald

-19-

Beth A. Bittel
Elaine C. Bredehoft
Manuel A. Capsalis
Michael F. Devine
Charles C. Dunn
Jerome P. Friedlander II
Steven M. Garver
Sandra L. Havrilak
Kelly Sweeney Hite
Justus M. Holme Jr.
James Fulton Hurd Jr.
Brett A. Kassabian
John A. Kassabian
John Allen Keats
Karen Turner McWilliams
Edward V O'Connor Jr.
George H. Ragland Jr.
August William Steinhilber III
John M. Tran

-20-

Douglas K. Baumgardner
Buta Biberaj
Douglas Lee Fleming Jr.
Robert H. Klima
Julia S. Savage
Daniel J. Travostino
John C. Whitbeck Jr.

-21-

Kimberly R. Belongia
Alan H. Black
George Gautsch
Kelli A. Krumenacker

-22-

Sandra T. Chinn-Gilstrap
Eric H. Ferguson
Brian H. Turpin

-23-

Leisa Kube Ciaffone
David J. Damico
V. Anne Edenfield
George A. McLean Jr.
John T. Molumphy III
Elizabeth Guilbert Perrow
Frank Waters Rogers III
John Weber III

-24-

Gary M. Coates
George Edgar Dawson III
P. Scott DeBruin
Stephen R. Eubank
Gentry R. P. Ferrell
Lisa L. Schenkel
Craig P. Tiller
Linda G. Willis

-25-

William Harrison Cleaveland
Malcolm G. Crawford
James B. Glick
C. Lynn Lawson
Robin J. Mayer
Victor M. Santos

-26-

James H. Allamong
Lawrence D. Bowers Jr.
William Kent Bowers
Neil Randolph Bryant
Robert S. Janney
Thomas A. Louthan
Hugh David O'Donnell
J. Casey Struckmann
Ian R. D. Williams

-27-

Paul M. Barnett
Douglas E. Brinckman
Harriet D. Dorsey
Kathryn K. Hagwood
Karen L. Loftin
Nathan H. Lyons
David T. Mullins
Graham M. Parks

-28-

Faith Dillow Esposito
Donald G. Hammer
Barry Lynn Proctor
David Lee Scyphers

-29-

David G. Altizer
Robert J. Breimann Jr.
Hugh Shannon Cooke
Sandra K. McGlothlin
Freddie E. Mullins
Kevin D. Tiller
Thomas P. Walk

-30-

Karen K. Bishop
Donna Sue Baker Cox
Gregory D. Edwards
George C. Maddux
Joseph W. Rasnic

-31-

Tracy Calvin Hudson
Raymond J. Morley Jr.
E. Allen Newcomb
John D. Primeau
Lawrie F. Rollison
H. Jan Roltsch-Anoll
William Roy Stephens
Thomas G. Underwood

(9/08)
. . .