A Superior Court judge took the unusual step of disbarring a divorce lawyer for making "empty and malicious" claims of abuse and antisemitic declarations to win an advantage for her client.
Judge Thomas Moukawsher blasted attorney Nickola Cunha for what he said were malicious accusations that were not supported by any evidence. In his long decision laying the groundwork for disbarment, Moukawsher expressed concern that similar, if less egregious, tactics in the increasingly brutal arena of divorce court have the potential.
She has tried to use the justice system against herself in order to frustrate it. It was a bid to get rid of it. Moukawsher wrote that the system threatens to destroy it as a credible instrument of democracy. The system may be to blame for the case's tortured history. The system has allowed itself to be tied in knots in order to achieve fairness and give the benefit of every doubt.
Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
The behavior questioned in the disbarment of Cunha is not isolated. There are more allegations of conspiracies and anonymous screeds about the state's family court system on the internet.
Photos of judges' spouses have been posted online. A Cromwell man was found guilty of threatening a judge and encouraging his followers to kill others.
133 lawyers are disbarred in Connecticut, according to the Judicial Branch. State law allows disbarred lawyers to apply for reinstatement after five years.
The state judicial branch can't provide statistics on how often judges disbar lawyers who appear before them because of a 2003 state Supreme Court decision.
Judges have the power to disbar lawyers for cause that occurs in the actual presence of the court, thanks to the Connecticut Practice Book.
Ms. Cunha will have the right to apply for reinstatement within five years of this order, not because of the court's ruling, but because the practice book gives her that right.
Cunha, who has offices in Hamden and has practiced law since 1999, represented one party in a contentious divorce involving a couple with children that has entered its third year and generated enormous fees for lawyers and various family relation.
The case was referred to Moukawsher, who is assigned to preside over especially complex and contentious divorces, after Cunha accused the judge presiding over the divorce trial of bias. Moukawsher summoned a hearing and told her to produce her proof.
Moukawsher's decision reproduces portions of the transcript of the hearing, which shows that Cunha spoke for 30 pages or so. Moukawsher believes that Cunha did not produce anything that supported her claims. The decision says that Cunha expressed antisemitic and conspiracy claims.
The enormous amount of information and evidence that comes to me about the alleged conspiracy is what she is relying on. She said that when you start looking at the cases, it is consistent and supports the claim. It's a vicious circle.
Moukawsher asked her to provide a list of her supporters. She tried to find one through her computer put. He was allowed to search further after a recess. She acknowledged that she had no list.
There is not, Judge, according to Cunha.
The other allegations were dismissed after similar questioning.
Moukawsher summoned Cunha back to court to defend herself. He told her to hire a lawyer. Cunha lashed out at Moukawsher after declining the advice.
She said his conclusions were clearly incorrect.
According to the record, she said that she found the proceedings to be harassment and intimidation and an attempt by Your Honor to shut her down for raising corruption. The Memorandum of Decision where you touch upon the history that it is, it is a joke and it is pathetic, and you should be ashamed for subjecting myself to that type of rhetoric. I am ashamed to be sitting before you with the kind of conduct that you have engaged in. You have lied to the public.
Moukawsher asked her to stop speaking.
Judge, yes, Cunha replied. I apologize, Your Honor, but I am below you. I will be quiet. Thank you.
Moukawsher said in his decision that it was incomprehensible to make the conspiracy claim without thought, without evidence, and repeatedly on the record.
The judiciary's credibility is threatened by such behavior.
Moukawsher said that when lawyers speak the public assumes they don't speak lightly. Ms. Cunha's lies about a Jewish conspiracy are reprehensible. The public might give them credit if the court exposes them as lies.
The courts are at risk of being dragged into the primordial ooze that passes for public discourse in some quarters today. This is a chance to do it.
In his decision, Moukawsher wrote that her conduct and accusations violated seven rules of professional conduct and provided multiple grounds for disbarment. The rules prohibit impugning a judge's integrity.
He said that Cunha used the judicial system to punish opponents and has called three judges to her client's divorce.
Her actions have been grave. Her motives have been corrupt because they have been to cloud the truth for the benefit of her client, rather than seek out the truth and seek the justice associated with that truth.
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