Ocean County judge sues judges, claims discrimination

TOMS RIVER - A Superior Court judge is suing his two bosses — other judges — claiming he was removed from duty and is being discriminated against because he has a son with disabilities.

Judge John F. Russo Jr. filed a lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court in Trenton claiming Assignment Judge Marlene Lynch Ford and Judge Madelin F. Einbinder have been trying to force him to resign and are subjecting him to a hostile work environment because he has a 19-year-old son with multiple disabilities, including Down Syndrome.

The lawsuit said Ford “removed him from his judicial duties" on April 12 and requested he submit to a fitness for duty evaluation before he could return to hearing cases.

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Ford asserted that a law clerk made a complaint about Russo which, if found to be true, “would constitute a hostile work environment," the suit said.

Ford, in a letter to Russo removing him from his duties, cited his “history of service on the bench" and “significant problems adjusting to life as a Superior Court judge," according to the lawsuit.

Russo, however, claims Ford’s reasons were false and used as a pretext to discriminate against him. He said in the suit he is fit for duty and did nothing to warrant the suspension. He noted that judges in Burlington County found him fit to be his son’s guardian.

“It is a personnel matter, and we can’t comment," Ford said when asked about the lawsuit. She added that she and Einbinder have not yet been assigned attorneys to represent them in the suit.

New Jersey’s code of judicial conduct prohibits judges from commenting on pending court matters.

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Richard Sevrin, president of the Ocean County Bar Association, said Ford and Einbinder are known to the bar for their integrity, honesty and even tempers.

“If someone were to ask me about judges, these are the top of the ladder," Sevrin said of Ford and Einbinder. “They are both really wonderful judges, and we’re glad to have them.

“I know Judge Russo, and always found him to be a good guy with integrity and honesty," Sevrin added, saying he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit.

Peter McAleer, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the Courts, said Russo is taking vacation leave. However, Russo’s lawsuit said Ford told him to take sick leave even though he was not sick. McAleer said he could not comment further.

Russo is the former mayor of Toms River and the son of former state Sen. John Russo Sr., who served as Senate president and was a political mentor to Ford. Ford ran on the Democratic ticket with Russo Sr. when she was elected to the state Assembly in 1983.

Russo, appointed to the Superior Court bench in Ocean County in December 2015 after serving almost six years as an administrative law judge, is assigned to the family division where Einbinder, the presiding judge of the family division, is his direct boss.

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Soon after coming on the bench in Ocean County, Russo spoke to Ford about his sons’ disabilities, to which she responded, “Maybe this job is not for you," according to the lawsuit.

“Thereafter, both Judge Ford and Judge Einbinder embarked on a discriminatory and unlawful course of conduct to force Judge Russo to resign and to discriminate against Judge Russo for his association with (his son), a person with disabilities," the suit said.   

Russo claims in the suit that during a conversation he had with Einbinder about his son's special needs, she "cavalierly'' responded, "Do you know how many of my son's soccer games I have missed?''

Russo was upset and told her, "I wish (my son) could play soccer,'' the suit said.

Russo, in the suit, claims his two bosses treated him “more harshly than others." He claims he was given minimal training and denied family leave to care for his son, particularly when his son was admitted to a psychiatric facility.

When Russo expressed concern about his deciding cases in the family division, in light of the fact that he had a guardianship case pending, Ford was said to have told him, “You’re not getting out of Family," the suit said. But, it noted another judge who had cancer was promptly transferred out of the “emotionally draining" family division.

Russo alleges in the suit that Einbinder falsely told others that he was having performance difficulties, ordered him to handle emergent phone matters around the clock during Christmas recess last year to prevent him from caring for his son, and assigned him the largest and most difficult cases in an attempt to force him to resign. Despite that, he had no case backlog last year, the first time that was reported in 12 years, the suit said.

In addition, Einbinder was “obviously resentful that she had to handle some of Judge Russo’s workload" when he had to tend to his son’s special needs.

Russo said in the suit that the courthouse has been "abuzz'' with talk that he is in trouble or did something wrong ever since Ford, through an email sent by a staff member, advised courthouse employees that he had been removed from duty.

The lawsuit cited examples of other judges who had been charged with ethical violations, but not suspended while the charges were pending.

The lawsuit is asking that Russo be restored to full duty. Russo also is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, and an injunction prohibiting future discrimination.

Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com