Tagged: Diane Hathaway

This week in Michigan politics, Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition host, Christina Shockley and Michigan Radio’s political analyst, Jack Lessenberry discuss the resignation of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway and the firing of Detroit’s top lawyer.

Justice Hathaway resigned this week. This comes after a disciplinary panel filed an ethics complaint against her. The complaint accuses Hathaway of cheating and lying about a real estate transaction that saved her $600,000.

Lessenberry says, “It’s another black eye to the Michigan Supreme Court which has been rated the least respected of all Supreme Courts in the Nation by the University of Chicago by a law school study there.”

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway will resign January 21.

The news came after the state’s Judicial Tenure Commission unveiled a 19-page complaint accusing her of money laundering, fraud and tax evasion.

“It is an event that has never happened and I think is of very great consequence,” said Larry Dubin of University of Detroit Mercy Law School.

“There is an adversarial relationship between the Judicial Tenure Commission and judges they eventually go after.”

A young reporter once asked me how you could tell if a someone was really retiring of their own free will, or being fired. “Well,” I said, “When someone prominent retires, they often announce it well in advance, and they honor them with a dinner. When someone suddenly leaves at ten in the morning on Tuesday, allegedly to spend more time with their family, they’ve been fired.” 

Yesterday, we learned that Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway is “retiring” from the court, barely halfway through her first term. Her retirement was announced right after the Judicial Tenure Commission lodged a formal complaint against her.

That complaint is perhaps the most damning against a sitting judge I’ve ever seen. It claims she violated federal and state laws against fraud, federal money laundering and tax laws, and constitute “conduct that is contrary to justice, ethics, honesty, or good morals.”

None of this comes as much of a surprise. Last spring, WXYZ-TV in Detroit first reported irregularities in the sale of a house she and her husband owned in Grosse Pointe Park.

Two months ago, federal authorities then sued Hathaway and her husband, who is also a lawyer, and have attempted to seize a home they own in Florida for fraudulently hiding real estate they owned in order to get a bank to write off a large mortgage.

Supreme Court Justice Hathaway resigns

"Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway announced Monday she will retire from the bench Jan. 21 after the Judicial Tenure Commission filed a formal complaint calling for her immediate suspension from the bench for alleged “blatant and brazen violations” of judicial conduct rules the commission said were “unprecedented in Michigan judicial disciplinary history.” Among the charges in the complaint is that Hathaway submitted false answers to the Judicial Tenure Commission during its recent investigation of private real estate transactions by Hathaway which are the subject of an FBI investigation," the Lansing State Journal reports.

Electric cars required to make more noise

The federal government is planning to issue new rules regulating car noise for electric vehicles. Electric and hybrid cars are sometimes too quiet. That could increase pedestrian and vehicle accidents, especially when it comes to visually impaired pedestrians. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants all electric and hybrid vehicles to make some noise when traveling under 18 miles per hour to deal with the problem, Tracy Samilton reports.

Child welfare workers protected under new Michigan law

"A new law signed by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson gives private child welfare agencies and their workers in Michigan extra protection from lawsuits if they're under contract with the state. They'll be immune from liability for personal injuries or property damages unless their conduct amounts to 'gross negligence or willful misconduct,'" the Associated Press reports.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway has resigned.

That news became public just hours after an ethics complaint was filed against her, along with an unprecedented request that she be suspended from the court.

The state Supreme Court had never been asked to take this kind of disciplinary action against a sitting justice.

Before the court acted on her suspension, Justice Hathaway’s attorney said she had already agreed to resign and won’t participate in any more cases. Hathaway’s resignation becomes official on January 21st.

The complaint accuses her of fraud and money laundering in a real estate deal, as well as lying about it to the Judicial Tenure Commission.        

Hathaway still faces a federal lawsuit that seeks to seize her Florida vacation home.         

Hathaway is a Democrat elected to the court in 2008. It will be up to Republican Governor Rick Snyder to name a replacement.

Update 4:26 p.m.

A lawyer says embattled Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway will retire on Jan. 21.

Steve Fishman tells The Associated Press that Hathaway filed the paperwork on Dec. 20. He made the disclosure Monday after a judicial watchdog agency filed a complaint and asked the Supreme Court to suspend Hathaway over a series of suspicious real estate transactions.

Fishman says the Judicial Tenure Commission was told about Hathaway's retirement in December. He says the filing of the 19-page complaint was a "gratuitous" move.

The commission says Hathaway committed "blatant and brazen" violations of professional conduct in the 2011 short sale of her home in Grosse Pointe Park. Hathaway and her husband put a debt-free Florida home in a relative's name, but regained the property when the Michigan sale was completed.

2:48 p.m.

The Michigan Supreme Court will be asked for the first time to suspend a sitting justice for misconduct.

The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission has filed a formal complaint against Justice Diane Hathaway. The disciplinary board has also asked the court to suspend Hathaway while the proceedings play out.

She has 14 days to respond to the complaint. Hathaway is accused of ethics violations for allegedly using property swaps to arrange a short sale that saved the couple hundreds of thousands of dollars -- a loss that was swallowed by the bank. The U.S. Attorney in Detroit has also filed a lawsuit against Hathaway.

A story broke yesterday that Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway had cleared out her office at the Hall of Justice. 

Many took this as a sign that Justice Hathaway was preparing to resign from the court amid an FBI investigation into her real-estate dealings.

But Hathaway denied the claims that her office had be cleared or that she was planning to resign.