10152004 - News Article - Supreme Court wrong to delay Kouros ouster

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

Supreme Court wrong to delay Kouros ouster
Post-Tribune (IN)
October 15, 2004
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/105D9631A77F946C?p=AWNB
The Indiana Supreme Court this week did what it should have done long ago -- order Lake Superior Court Judge Joan Kouros removed from the bench.

Just as the high court hasn't handled the case well from the start, it was less than judicious in ordering its final resolution.

Since her appointment in January 1997, Kouros has spent part of her tenure on paid suspension -- the last of which started in June -- while her performance was being evaluated.

Despite the high court's scathing critique of her performance, Kouros will remain on paid suspension until February.

Delaying the removal allows Kouros to become eligible for judicial pension benefits when she reaches retirement age.

That is simply wrong. Kouros, who should have been removed from the bench four years ago, when her inability to run a court was first identified, will continue to be paid for another four months and then be eligible for retirement benefits.

The Supreme Court, by its own statements, is rewarding poor performance at the expense of the taxpayers.

The court said this week that Kouros "has proved either unable or unwilling to issue timely and documented decisions in the cases assigned to her, causing real-life consequences for those whose matters are in her hands."

That's hardly a ringing endorsement for staying on the public payroll.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the handling of the Kouros case isn't so much the money.

Most troublesome is that the state's highest court is telling the residents of Indiana that there is a double standard when it comes to fairness -- one for the members of the judiciary and another for everyone else.

10132004 - News Article - Supreme Court boots Kouros for good - Unanimous decision remove Lake County Judge Joan Kouros as of Feb. 25

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

Supreme Court boots Kouros for good
Unanimous decision remove Lake County Judge Joan Kouros as of Feb. 25
NWI Times
Oct 13, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/supreme-court-boots-kouros-for-good/article_bfef7476-44b6-511f-8861-bcd65f7f4d49.html
It's final. Joan Kouros no longer is a judge, but she can still practice law.

The Indiana Supreme Court ended a five-year saga Tuesday by issuing a unanimous 18-page decision ordering Kouros' permanent removal from the Lake Criminal Court bench effective Feb. 25.

Kouros' July 22 suspension with pay continues until the February date, so she'll be eligible for the minimum judicial pension benefits, the state's highest court ruled.

"We conclude that this is appropriate given the Respondent's (Kouros') years of service and the fact that her misconduct reflects, essentially, an inability to carry out the duties of her office rather than moral culpability," the justices wrote.

The court refused to suspend Kouros' law license, even though it has the right to under Indiana law.

However, the Supreme Court also ordered Kouros to pay the costs of the proceedings. That includes any reimbursement paid to the three master judges who heard testimony in April that Kouros had not kept her word to effectively run Lake County Criminal Courtroom 3, said an attorney in the Supreme Court administration office. Other costs involved would include the transcript of that hearing, copying and investigation expenses.

T. Edward Page, president of the Lake County Bar Association, said: "More than anything else, I feel sad for her and for the profession. She tried hard to do her very best and credit for that should never be taken from her."

10132004 - News Article - EDITORIALS - Justices seize the gavel - The issue: Joan Kouros

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

EDITORIALS - Justices seize the gavel
The issue: Joan Kouros
NWI Times
Oct 13, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/justices-seize-the-gavel/article_4cf92821-17b9-5046-96d0-bbe15ac40049.html
Our opinion: Despite this proper discipline by the Indiana Supreme Court, the taxpayers still have to support her.

The Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday finally decided to remove Lake Superior Court Judge Joan Kouros from the bench, ending two years of efforts to help her manage her caseloads and two suspensions for not doing so.

Unfortunately, for the taxpayers of Lake County, her removal does not free them from the obligation of paying her salary or future pension. The justices decided she will not have to relinquish her position until Feb. 25, thus ensuring she will not lose her pension benefits when she reaches retirement age. In addition, the justices said her current suspension with pay, since August, will remain in effect until Feb. 25. County Judges make about $98,000 a year.

Faced with mounting evidence of her inability to handle her judicial duties, the justices had no choice but to take this unprecedented step. In their ruling, they said Kouros failed to manage her caseload or even "provide accurate information that would allow us to monitor her performance with confidence to ensure that justice is being administered fairly and promptly in her court."

They were repeating what other investigations into Kouros' handling of her courtroom have found. The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications cited nearly four years of "futile second chances" for Kouros.

Problems in her courtroom started four years ago when lawyers began complaining they were not getting their fees in a timely manner. In addition, jail inmate transfers were not done because Kouros was slow in completing the routine -- but necessary -- paperwork. The commission reviewed her court and found a backlog of hundreds of cases awaiting her signature on decisions made months earlier.

Kouros, appointed to the bench in 1997 by then-Gov. Evan Bayh, now a U.S. senator, has explained that after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an obsessive-compulsive disorder became more pronounced, hampering her work. She has sought help for her ailments, which is commendable.

But the issue is the timely and fair dispensation of justice in the court system here.

What is not fair is that, despite this proper discipline by the Indiana Supreme Court, the taxpayers still have to support her.

10132004 - News Article - To err is human, not to judge is divine

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

To err is human, not to judge is divine
NWI Times
Oct 13, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/mark-kiesling/to-err-is-human-not-to-judge-is-divine/article_fdcf8cf1-5eeb-534c-a2b5-0ae23263080d.html
In the Marx Brothers' film "Animal Crackers," Groucho as Captain Spaulding is discussing the payment to musicians led by Signor Emanual Ravelli, played by Chico.

"What do you fellows get an hour?" inquires Groucho, to which Chico replies, "Oh, for playing we getta 10 dollars an hour."

"And what do you get for not playing?" Groucho continues. "Twelve dollars an hour," Chico says, then goes on to explain they get $15 an hour for rehearsing.

And for not rehearsing?

"You couldn't afford it," Chico says.

How much does Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros get for not judging?

According to Meg Babcock, chief counsel for the Indiana Supreme Court's Commission on Judicial Qualifications, Kouros has spent from June 27, 2003, to Jan. 1 and from Aug. 2 to the present on paid suspension.

That's nine months, or 10 percent of the time she has been in office since being sworn in as a judge in March 1997.

For this, she is making about $98,000 a year. Indiana judges routinely complain about being underpaid compared to counterparts in neighboring states, but it's tough to gripe when you don't actually have to work.

Tuesday came word the 45-year-old judge will "retire" Feb. 25, which will allow her to just become vested in the judicial pension plan, which was the rumor all along. Next stop? Look for a job somewhere in the county's legal system so she can keep her insurance. They take care of their own.

This would put her at having served 15 percent of her career on paid suspension.

The irony is that Kouros was probably the hardest-working judge in the county's criminal division, often staying late and working weekends to make sure all the i's were dotted and t's crossed.

And it was Kouros who angered her fellow judges and their employees when she went public with what everyone who works in the courthouse knows: That there are a lot of times when judges are done by or before noon and they go home or out to hit 18 holes.

A lot of Kouros' hard work was brought on by her own perfectionism, which was the eventual cause of her downfall.

The state's high court has twice suspended Kouros for being unable to manage the day-to-day affairs of court, particularly in respect to getting paperwork completed in a timely manner. Noting this has cost inmates days of freedom and has opened the county to potential legal action, the Supreme Court in essence told her to clean up the mess and keep it cleaned up.

This she promised to do, but fudged when it came time to keep the promise. Files cleaned up during the 2003 caretakership of retired Porter Circuit Judge Raymond Kickbush once again began to litter the courtroom and her chambers.

But despite the infractions and suspensions, the supremes kept her on to preserve the pension she will be allowed to draw at 62.

It could only happen to someone from East Chicago.

10132004 - News Article - Kouros ouster from bench final - Ex-judge on payroll until February; eligible for pension

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

Kouros ouster from bench final 
Ex-judge on payroll until February; eligible for pension
Post-Tribune (IN)
October 13, 2004
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/105BADBD13E403CF?p=AWNB
State justices said of Kouros: "This misconduct was not isolated but included a persistent failure to perform judicial duties of a substantial period."

More than three years of reviews and second chances are over for Lake Superior Court Judge Joan Kouros.

The Indiana Supreme Court, in a decision Tuesday, ordered Kouros be removed from office.

Kouros "has proved either unable or unwilling to issue timely and documented decisions in the cases assigned to her, causing real-life consequences for those whose matters are in her hands," the court's decision said.

It said defendants had waited in limbo for months -- once, 27 months -- for Kouros to enter decisions after pronouncing sentences. One defendant filed a federal lawsuit after a 15-month delay.

Tuesday's decision had been anticipated.

"I think this is something that has been talked about in legal circles for some time," Lake Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Stefaniak Jr. said. "The lawyers here and other judges were just waiting for a decision."

Stefaniak is senior judge in Lake Superior Court's criminal division, where Kouros was one of four judges.

He said Thomas W. Webber Jr., a retired Porter Superior Court judge, will continue filling in for Kouros.

"I wish her all the best," Stefaniak said of Kouros. "I always found her to make good moral and legal decisions."

T. Edward Page, president of the Lake County Bar Association, said he was "sad for the judge and sad for the profession."

"She tried hard to do her very best," Page said of Kouros, "and credit for that should never be taken from her."

Neither of Kouros' attorneys responded to telephone requests for comment.

However, Kouros' $90,000 yearly judicial pay doesn't stop with Tuesday's decision.

The Supreme Court said Kouros -- who has been suspended with pay since June 22 -- will remain on suspension until Feb. 25, 2005, when her removal will become effective.

The additional time will allow Kouros to become eligible for minimum judicial pension benefits, provided at retirement age to judges who have served at least eight years.

It also means the replacement process for picking her successor won't start until she is officially out of office.

Kouros was appointed by former Gov. Evan Bayh, a Democrat. The winner of the Nov. 2 governor's election will appoint her successor, from a list of nominees to be prepared by the Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission.

Kouros, a judge since January 1997, had been under the Indiana Supreme Court's review since early 2001.

The court -- the arbiter of discipline for the state's lawyers and judges -- learned then that 330 case files had piled up in Kouros' office.

It ordered state court administrators to monitor Kouros' court. Later, the administrators found her desk covered with court files and sticky notes.

On Jan. 17, 2003, the court found that Kouros had not installed the transcription system she had promised two years earlier. It set deadlines for her to enter decisions.

Six months later, the court ruled that Kouros still had failed to do her duties promptly. It suspended her and appointed Ray Kickbush, a retired Porter Circuit Court judge, to serve as temporary judge.

Kouros asked for another chance, and the court allowed her back on the bench in December 2003.

But in the meantime, the Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed a 78-count statement of charges against her.

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that Kouros' misconduct did not come from moral turpitude or a desire to enrich herself, and said she had expressed remorse.

It also said that Kouros' doctors had found that her multiple sclerosis, with which she had been diagnosed 20 years ago, did not prevent her from working as a judge, and that she was receiving therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

But Kouros was not a novice, the court said.

"This misconduct was not isolated but included a persistent failure to perform judicial duties of a substantial period," the court said.

And, it added, "the misconduct affected not only the parties whose cases were heard in (Kouros') court but also others interested in the efficient operation of the criminal justice system."

10122004 - News Article - Court orders Judge Kouros removed from bench

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

Court orders Judge Kouros removed from bench
NWI Times
Oct 12, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/court-orders-judge-kouros-removed-from-bench/article_bc6b7cbe-0f12-52cd-a15a-b9dc3ab44027.html
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Indiana Supreme Court ordered Tuesday that a Lake Superior Court judge who was twice suspended for creating a backlog of cases be removed from office.

The high court said Judge Joan Kouros had failed to manage her caseload or even "provide accurate information that would allow us to monitor her performance with confidence to ensure that justice is being administered fairly and promptly in her court."

The justices ordered Kouros removed from office effective Feb. 25, and said a previously ordered suspension with pay would remain in effect until then. The postponed removal ensures that Kouros will not lose minimum pension benefits when she reaches retirement age.

Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday for attorneys representing Kouros.

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications had in July recommended Kouros' removal. Thomas Webber, a retired Porter County judge, was appointed by the high court to take Kouros' place in Lake County Criminal Court.

It was not immediately clear whether Webber would continue in that position.

Kouros was appointed to the bench in 1997 and retained by voters in 2000 in the face of calls by a number of Lake County lawyers that she be removed.

In 2002, the Division of State Court Administration reported finding more than 200 files for cases in which hearings or trials had occurred, but for which Kouros had made no corresponding written orders, the Supreme Court said in its decision.

"DSCA also observed that the surfaces of desks were covered with files, many of which were themselves covered with 'post-it' notes documenting the court's decisions," the decision said.

Kouros told the judicial commission this year that after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1984, an obsessive compulsive disorder became more pronounced, hampering her work.

Kouros described herself as a perfectionist, with a low rate of cases overturned on appeal.

Doctors had said that Kouros' health issues do not negatively impact or interfere with her ability to function as a judge, the court said in its decision.

The court added that Kouros had expressed remorse and apologized for the backlog.

The justices said that Kouros' "misconduct reflects, essentially, an inability to carry out the duties of her office rather than moral culpability."