ALBANY - The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has completed formal proceedings against Stephen Brown, a Justice of the Junius Town Court in  Seneca County, who was served with formal disciplinary charges in February 2009 and resigned from judicial office on April 15, 2009.

Pursuant to a stipulation dated June 1, 2009, Judge Brown agreed never to seek or accept judicial office in the future. On that basis, the Commission proceedings were discontinued and the case was closed. Pursuant to Judiciary Law Section 47, the Commission could have determined to remove the judge from office notwithstanding his resignation, which would have disqualified him from holding judicial office in the future.

Judge Brown was publicly admonished by the Commission in December 2007 for, among other things, sending a threatening letter to the tenant in a landlord/tenant dispute after an ex parte request for assistance from the landlord.

Under the terms of the June 1st stipulation, Judge Brown waived the statutory provision of confidentiality applicable to Commission proceedings, to the limited extent that the stipulation would be made public. The stipulation indicates the following:

• The judge was served with a Formal Written Complaint dated February 12, 2009, alleging that he handled a small claims action involving a neighbor and long-time friend despite lacking subject matter jurisdiction over the defendant; issued separate judgments to each party in the action; awarded each party different monetary damages, and granted unlawful equitable relief in favor of his neighbor.
• The judge waived the opportunity to file an answer to the Formal Written Complaint.
• The judge resigned from judicial office on April 15, 2009, effective May 31, 2009.

This is the 29th such stipulation since the procedure was instituted in July 2003.  The stipulation and the Commission’s order closing the case can be found on the Commission’s website: www.scjc.state.ny.us