Protesters recall problems they had in Family Court

Art Nadler

Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 11:25 a.m.

Susan Trombetti remembers how Family Court Judge Fran Fine would file her nails, eat an orange and walk around the courtroom putting hand lotion on her hands.

Trombetti, along with several other former litigants of Fine's courtroom, turned out in force Thursday afternoon to see if the Judicial Discipline Commission would finally remove her from the bench.

They formed a picket line in front of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., calling for her immediate ouster.

"I was supposed to pay 25 percent of my monthly salary in child support," Claudia Bourque said. "That's what Nevada law requires for two children. Instead, she ordered me to pay 100 percent of my monthly income. She said I looked like I could afford it."

Bourque, who has since remarried, is a fashion designer and makes on average $400 a month. All of this money, she said, goes toward child support.

Robert Paul faced Fine when she was an attorney representing his ex-wife eight years ago. He felt Fine was incompetent, didn't understand the law and used her family influence to "pull strings."

Paul said Fine had his case reassigned twice, until she got before a judge who was more favorable to his former wife.

Trombetti, who appeared in Fine's courtroom in 1995 and recalled the oranges and hand lotion, prevailed in her case, "but I had to spend $35,000 (in attorney's fees) to get custody of my child," she said. "I said when I walked out of that courtroom that I would do something so another woman wouldn't have to experience what I did."

Trombetti said besides not being prepared, Fine would often yell at her and tell her to shut up.

"She was not prepared," Trombetti said. "She literally had not read the cases."