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February 9, 2010 |
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| August 13, 2007 |
By: Julie Kay |
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ort Lauderdale attorney Loring Spolter is accusing U.S. District Judge William Zloch of bias in two employment discrimination cases, citing his deep religious beliefs, and wants the judge removed from the cases.
In a 110-page motion for recusal filed last month, Spolter cited Zloch’s hiring of several law clerks from Ave Maria Law School, a donation to the Roman Catholic school and his attendance at several junkets for judges sponsored by conservative organizations.
Zloch did not return calls for comment.
Contacted about the cases, other lawyers say Zloch is a deeply religious Catholic but has never allowed his personal beliefs to affect his judgment on the bench.
Guy Lewis, a former U.S. attorney and Coral Gables attorney, called the allegations “absolutely silly, beyond the pale.”
Lewis, a Southern Baptist, said of Zloch: “This is a guy who calls balls and strikes as good as anybody. There’s no question he’s a devoutly religious man, but to suggest that affects his rulings is over the top.”
Arthur Schofield, a West Palm Beach attorney, said Zloch exhibited no bias when he ruled for his client — a stripper — last year. She was suing her employer, Platinum Showgirls, for listing her as an independent contractor and refusing to pay her an hourly wage. Zloch ruled she was entitled to hourly pay.
“Judge Zloch is one of the fairest judges I know,” Schofield said.
Elizabeth Mercedes Rodriguez of Ford & Harrison in Miami, who represented a West Palm Beach abortion clinic in a suit brought by abortion protesters, said she found Zloch to be fair. In April, the judge dismissed Presidential Women’s Center as a defendant in the 2004 lawsuit.
Ware Cornell, a Weston employment lawyer who has had a number of cases before Zloch, said, “Judge Zloch tries very hard to be fair, although I do believe he is pretty tough on plaintiffs.”
Cornell, who is Protestant, said he does not think Zloch’s religious beliefs affect his rulings, but it’s more likely his political views do.
Zloch, who was appointed to the bench by President Reagan in 1985, earned his undergraduate and law degrees at Notre Dame University, the Catholic home of the Fighting Irish. The Fort Lauderdale judge ended a seven-year term as chief district judge in June.
While others strongly dispute the notion that Zloch is biased, Spolter, who is Jewish, filed 20 exhibits supporting his motion.
The exhibits include newspaper articles about Ave Maria Law School, reports from the Washington-based Community Rights Counsel about judicial junkets and items from Ave Maria’s Web site about donors and judges who have hired its graduates.
Zloch denied one motion for recusal July 16, calling it “without merit.” He did not elaborate. Spolter plans to appeal if Zloch rules against him again.
Spolter filed a recusal motion in the case of Ramon Sabatier v. SunTrust Bank. Sabatier sued his former employer in 2006, accusing the bank of firing him after he repeatedly complained he was not paid overtime.
SunTrust, represented by Akerman Senterfitt attorney Jeffrey Mandel, denies the allegation.
Spolter alleges Zloch is deliberately allowing the case to stagnate and has refused to set a trial date while moving ahead on newer civil cases.
Spolter also claims Zloch is “sandbagging” him on another employment case, Renee Bettis v. Toys “R” Us. In that case, Bettis was fired by subsidiary Babies “R” Us in Palm Beach County when she was eight months pregnant. Zloch granted a dismissal, and Spolter plans to appeal.
Spolter alleges Zloch is biased against Bettis because he believes women should not work after they have children.
As evidence, he points to Zloch requiring Bettis to skip work to attend her depositions and mediation in person while exempting New York-based Toys “R” Us executives from attending a mediation session.
Zloch is well-versed in the legal standard for recusal based on judicial bias.
He played the deciding role in a recusal appeal while serving as chief judge in 2003 when he removed U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler from supervision of a consent decree governing the Everglades cleanup.
Sugar growers claimed Hoeveler’s comments in and out of court demonstrated a clear bias against them. The case was handed to U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno, who later succeeded Zloch as chief judge.
“The test for determining whether a judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned requires asking whether a disinterested observer fully informed of the facts would entertain a significant doubt as to a judge’s impartiality,” Zloch wrote when he removed Hoeveler.
Spolter cites Zloch’s support of Michigan-based Ave Maria, which was founded in 2000 by former Domino’s Pizza owner Tom Monaghan. Former Judge and U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork is a professor there. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia helped develop the conservative curriculum.
Bernard Dobranski, the law school dean, is on the board of directors of the Culture of Life, an organization that along with the Catholic Church rejects contraception as a form of birth control.
Ave Maria’s law school received accreditation from the American Bar Association in 2005 but not from the American Association of Law Schools. It is in the fourth tier of law schools in ratings compiled by U.S. News & World Report. The school is planning a controversial move to the new town of Ave near Naples in 2009.
Zloch has employed more law clerks from Ave Maria — three in all — than any other judge in the nation. Currently, two of his three clerks are Ave Maria graduates.
The school lists Zloch as one of its advocates, featuring him among its “honor roll of donors” for contributing $100 to $500 in 2004.
“Having faculty with strong beliefs favoring one end of the political spectrum would not be troublesome in and of itself,” according to Spolter’s motion. “It does, however, become problematic when a judge rewards and endorses a law school — through monetary contributions and by aggressively hiring its graduates as law clerks — when the faculty is comprised solely of those advocating a certain limited range of political and religious beliefs.”
Spolter also cited Zloch’s long association with the Federalist Society, a conservative law organization, and his acceptance of several free judicial training junkets sponsored by groups like the conservative Liberty Fund and the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University, a conservative-leaning school in Virginia.
The junkets have been widely criticized by groups like the Community Rights Counsel, a judicial watchdog group, and members of Congress for presenting a biased, conservative view of environmental and regulatory issues.
In a response to Spolter’s motion, Mandel, who represents SunTrust, rejected the premise that Zloch is biased.
“Neither the trial judge’s religious and political beliefs, nor the issue of whether mothers should work outside the home, has any relevance to plaintiff’s claims in this case,” he wrote in the defense filing.
“Plaintiff’s request for recusal is nothing more than an unwarranted and specious personal attack on the trial judge (and the not-so-subtle disparagement of the trial judge’s law clerks based on their education and background) in response to the unwelcome ruling in another case.”
Mandel also noted Zloch ruled in favor of the plaintiff by denying his motion for summary judgment. He calls Spolter’s motion “judge shopping” and “manipulative.”
Julie Kay can be reached at jkay@alm.com or at (954) 468-2622.
William Zloch photo by A.M. Holt
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