COMMITTEE ON JUDICIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND DISABILITY

P.O. BOX 8058

PORTLAND, MAINE 04104-8058
(207) 780-4364

November 24, 2009

Lori Handrahan
28 Franklin Terrace
South Portland, Maine 04106

Docket No: 27-DC-09

Dear Ms. Handralian:

I am writing to advise you that, at its regular November meeting, the

Committee on Judicial Responsibility and Disability considered your complaint
against District Court Judge Jeffrey H. Moskowitz, but concluded that it must be
dismissed.

Your complaint related to various decisions made by Judge Moskowitz in the

divorce action filed against you in the Portland District Court by your now former
husband, Mr. Igor Malenko. In particular, you alleged that Judge Moskowitz:

1. Improperly limited the number of witnesses you were allowed to call at

trial',

2. In his Divorce Judgment, erroneously mischaracterized four incidents of

violence allegedly perpetrated by Mr. Malenko;

3. In his Divorce Judgment, erroneously found that Mr. Malenko did not
suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or a narcissistic personality, and
erroneously suggested that you may suffer from unspecified mental health problems;

4. In his Divorce Judgment, erroneously found that Mr. Malenko' s testimony

was credible, and yours not credible;

5. In his Divorce Judgment, erroneously evaluated the parties' income for the
purpose of determining the amount of child support Mr. Malenko must pay; and
<;

6. In his Divorce Judgment, improperly allowed Mr. Malenko to have

unsupervised visits with your daughter, Mila, and improperly dissolved a protection
from abuse order entered against Mr. Malenko by anotherjudge on your petition.

All of these allegations related to the substance of various of Judge Moskowitz's

rulings, simple disagreement with which cannot form the basis for judicial
discipline. Rather, your remedy, of which you availed yourself, was to appeal those
decisions to a higher court. Accordingly, the Committee dismissed these
allegations.

In addition, you alleged that Judge Moskowitz's actions in the case

demonstrated that he is categorically biased against women, in violation of Canon
3(B)(6) of the Maine Code of Judicial Conduct. As you are aware, this allegation
was presented to the Supreme Judicial Court, which found no evidence of gender
bias on the part of Judge Moskowitz. Malenko v. Handrahan, 2009 ME 96, "36-
41. Accordingly, the Committee dismissed this allegation as without basis in fact,
The Committee remains open, however, to the receipt of any evidence that you
might have of gender bias on the part of Judge Moskowitz in other cases.

Finally, you allege that Judge Moskowitz failed to report to the Board of
Overseers of the Bar violations of the Maine Bar Rules on the part of Mr.
Malenko's lawyer, Mr. Michael J. Waxman, Esq., as he is required to do by Canon
3(D)(2) of the code. In support of this allegation, you called the Committee's
attention to a recent determination of a panel of the Grievance Commission of the
Board that there was probable cause to believe that Mr. Waxman had violated the
Rules. The docket sheet in your case shows, however, that on August 27, 2009,
Judge Moskowitz held a hearing on your motion to disqualify Mr. Waxman, at
which the issues considered by the Grievance Commission were apparently aired;
but the judge denied the motion. Your allegation that Judge Moskowitz failed to
report a violation of the Bar Rules thus resolves into a disagreement with the
substance of his decision on your motion. Since, as indicated above, simple
disagreement with a judge's decision cannot form the basis for judicial discipline,
the Committee dismissed this final allegation.
 I hope the foregoing adequately explains the bases for the Committee's
decision. Please fmd enclosed the bound volume of materials with which you
provided the Committee.

Sincerely,

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~u. A
Cabanne Howard
Executive Secretary

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Enclosure