Judge Fine found guilty of misconduct

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 11:31 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- For the second time, Family Court Judge Frances Fine of Las Vegas has been found guilty of misconduct, and she faces penalties ranging from a public reprimand to removal from office.

The state Judicial Discipline Commission said Wednesday that Fine held meetings on a case without lawyers from either side being present; appointed her relative to be a mediator in a case without informing the parties; and changed the parental rights of a mother to her child without notice or a hearing.

Fine broke the canons of judicial ethics with acts of nepotism, impropriety and failing to promote impartiality, the commission ruled.

She has been ordered to appear before the commission at 2 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Sawyer Office Building in Las Vegas where the penalty will be set. The discipline available includes censure, a fine, an order for additional training or ouster from her judicial position.

William Terry, Fine's lawyer, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The penalty hearing comes as the Nov. 3 general election, in which Fine is running for another term, nears. Fine led a four-person field in the primary election, gathering 40.2 percent of the vote. Robert Lueck, who got 24.4 percent, was in second place and will face her in the general election.

A $5,000 penalty was levied against Fine several years ago for one of the same offenses. She held meetings with one side or the other in a case without the opposing attorney being present.

In the current complaint, the commission found that on March 28, 1993, Fine conducted a telephone conversation with Stephanie Crowley, an expert psychologist hired by one of the parties in the divorce case of McMonigle vs. McMonigle. Lawyers from both sides were not present. Fine later told her law clerk to call Crowley for another conservation.

The judge on June 8, 1993, also conducted an "ex parte conference" in the McMonigle case with William Sheldon of the Family Mediation and Assessment Center and with Crowley and Dr. Lewis Etcoff on the telephone without lawyers being present.

A second count said Fine appointed her first cousin, Faith Garfield, to be a mediator in the divorce case of Kinnard vs. Kinnard without telling those involved of the relationship. In June 1996, Fine issued an order directing the parties to show cause why they should not be held in contempt for not paying Garfield for her services.

Fine argued that her failure to disclose the relationship was unintentional, and her motivation was to get the family healed and back together. But she later acknowledged she did not want the parties to know Garfield was her first cousin. It was on her own motion that she ordered the contempt hearing to get Garfield paid.

The commission said her actions, "although they may be well intentioned, created an appearance of impropriety that can only serve to reduce public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary."

A third count said there was an ex parte communication with Sheldon in the divorce case of Greisen vs. Greisen.

Although not in the original allegation, the commission found that "two additional instances of deplorable ex parte conduct were clearly and convincingly established by the evidence" at a Sept. 2-3 hearing in Las Vegas.

Fine testified that she received a call from Dr. Marc Caplan about a case. At first she testified that nothing substantial was discussed. But the commission said her later testimony "clearly established that at least some discussion of substantive matters occurred."

She later received a letter from Caplan and set a hearing in the case without telling attorneys the purpose of the hearing. She also received a letter from another doctor in the case and, without notifying attorneys for either side, directed that the mother, Laura Kinnard, not have any contact with her minor child unless a therapist was present.

The commission said Fine "significantly altered important parental rights of the mother without notice or a hearing."

Fine explained that she was acting in the best interest of the child and that her order was only temporary. She told the commission at the hearing that it was an emergency situation requiring action. But the commission said the evidence did not support Fine. It said the letter from Caplan specifically said the facts in the case did not constitute an emergency.

"Judge Fine, using the rationale of acting in the 'best interest of the child,' discarded her judicial capacity and became an advocate," the commission said, adding that her conduct "evidences a pattern of behavior, which virtually eliminates the judicial process as established" in the state and in the nation.

"Utilizing rationales of expediency, emergency, a heavy workload and claiming the orders entered were only temporary, she dispensed with the presentation of evidence in court through testimony of witnesses with the opportunity of cross-examination by attorneys."

The commission rejected Fine's argument that ex parte communications between judges and various therapists and counselors were widespread in Family Court in Clark County. It said Fine's position was not supported in testimony by LaDeana Gamble, who is manager of the Family Mediation Center, and by Joyce Gallina, an employee of the center.