Lisa Ortlieb Gorcyca
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Lisa Ortlieb Gorcyca is a judge for the 6th Circuit Court in Oakland County, Michigan. She was elected to the court on November 4, 2008.[1] On November 4, 2014, Gorcyca ran unopposed for another six-year term that expires on December 31, 2020.[2]
Biography
Gorcyca received her B.S. in criminal justice from Michigan State University in 1989 and her J.D. from the Michigan State University - Detroit College of Law in 1993. Before she became a judge, Gorcyca served in the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office as chief of the Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse Units from 1993 until 2008.[3]
Elections
2014
See also: Michigan judicial elections, 2014
Ortlieb Gorcyca ran for re-election to the 6th Circuit Court.
General: She was unopposed in the general election on November 4, 2014.
[2]
Noteworthy events
Misconduct case (2015-2017)
The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) filed a formal ethics complaint against Judge Gorcyca on December 14, 2015, in relation to the custody case described in the noteworthy case section below.[4] In July 2017, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in favor of publicly censuring Gorcyca.[5]
The commission's list of allegations against Gorcyca are listed below:
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Read the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission's complaint in full here.
Gorcyca issued her formal response to the complaint in late January 2016. Although admitting that she was frustrated at times during the case, she denied any wrongdoing or misconduct. In response to several of the specific allegations, her response read, "The Honorable Lisa Gorcyca admits this allegation and encourages the reader to examine the record in its entirety, as well as the context of the statements." She said she always had the children's best interests in mind.[8]
Gorcyca petitioned to have JTC Executive Director Paul Fischer and JTC staff member Margaret N. S. Rynier disqualified as examiners in her case on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct. Gorcyca's attorneys argued that Fischer was improper in contacting the Tsimhoni children's guardian ad litem. Former Circuit Judge Daniel Ryan, the handler of Gorcyca's case, denied the motion.[9] Gorcyca's disciplinary hearing was on May 31, 2016.[10] The JTC recommended a punishment of public censure and a 30-day suspension without pay.[11]
On July 28, 2017, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Gorcyca to be publicly censured, a less severe punishment than the JTC recommended. The court's ruling said that her "demeaning and disparaging remarks" directed at the children amounted to judicial misconduct, but that some of the other allegations made by the JTC were "mere legal errors made in good faith and with due diligence." Justice Richard Bernstein dissented in part, and wrote, "I would have adopted the findings and recommendation of the Judicial Tenure Commission to publicly censure respondent and suspend her from office for 30 days without pay."[5]
Noteworthy cases
Custody battle and summer camp (2015)
In a custody hearing on June 24, 2015, Judge Gorcyca found three children—ages 9, 10, and 14—in contempt of court for refusing to speak to their father. The judge initially sent them to a short-term housing facility for neglected children, but she later ordered on July 10, 2015, that they be placed in a summer camp.[12]
The children's parents, Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni and Omer Tsimhoni, divorced in 2010 and then engaged in a custody battle.[12] The parents had joint legal custody while their mother had physical custody, with their father primarily seeing them during supervised visits.[13]
Throughout the June 2015 trial, Judge Gorcyca reprimanded the children for refusing to speak to or meet with their father. At one point she said to the oldest child, a 14-year-old boy,
| “ | There is no reason why you do not have a relationship with your father. Your father has never been charged with anything. Your father’s never been convicted of anything. Your father doesn’t have a personal protection order against him. Your father is well-liked and loved by the community, his co-workers, his family, his colleagues. You, young man, have got it wrong. I think your father is a great man who has gone through hoops for you to have a relationship with you.[7] | ” |
| —Judge Lisa Gorcyca[14] | ||
Tsimhoni claimed that his ex-wife poisoned their children's perceptions of him since the divorce, citing this as the reason the children refused to speak or meet with him as Judge Gorcyca ordered. Fourteen-year-old Liam said to the judge, "I do apologize if I didn’t understand the rules [of the court]. But I do not apologize for not talking to [my father] because I have a reason for that and that’s because he’s violent and I saw him hit my mom and I’m not going to talk to him."[14] Tsimhoni denied the abusive behavior.
Eibschitz-Tsimhoni denied pitting the children against their father. She said, "I have never done any of the things she is saying about me. The only thing I always said to the court is that love comes with love. You can't terrorize someone to love. You can't force somebody to love."[12]
When the judge found the children in contempt of court for their resistance, she ordered that they be housed in Mandy's Place, a facility for neglected and abused children within the Oakland County Children's Village, until they turned 18 or agreed to attempt a relationship with their father. Their father, but not their mother, was allowed to visit them at the Children's Village.[14][15]
On July 10, 2015, Judge Gorcyca lifted her contempt of court ruling and ordered that the children be released from the Children's Village housing facility. They were instead sent to a summer camp which typically runs two-week programs, and both parents were given visitation rights. [12]
Upon returning from the camp, the children were ordered by the court to participate in a five-day intensive treatment for parental alienation. They began living with their father in August, and as part of the alienation treatment, their mother was not allowed any contact with them.[16] As the formal custody hearing neared, Eibschitz-Tsimhoni claimed that Gorcyca was biased and asked her to recuse herself from the case, which the judge denied. Eibschitz-Tsimhoni's attorneys then asked Gorcyca to delay the hearing while they ask Chief Judge Nanci Grant to intercede and remove the judge from the case. Gorcyca granted the delay in October.[17]
After Gorcyca was charged with misconduct allegations in December 2015, she announced her withdrawal of the case.[18]
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2008 Election Results: 6th Circuit Court Non-Incumbents," accessed December 15, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Michigan Secretary of State, "2014 Official Michigan Primary Candidate Listing," accessed July 9, 2014
- ↑ Oakland County, Michigan, "Honorable Lisa Gorcyca," accessed December 15, 2014
- ↑ CBS Detroit, "Judge Accused Of Misconduct After Locking Up 3 Kids In Custody Case," December 15, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Livingston Daily, "Michigan high court rejects suspension on judge who jailed kids in custody fight," July 28, 2017
- ↑ Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, "Complaint against Hon. Lisa O. Gorcyca," December 14, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Oakland Press, "Gorcyca issues response to Judicial Tenure Commission complaint," January 22, 2016
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Oakland judge Lisa Gorcyca loses bid to derail misconduct charges," May 27, 2016
- ↑ Click on Detroit, "Testimony heard at misconduct hearing for Judge Lisa Gorcyca," May 31, 2016
- ↑ The Oakland Press, "Judicial Tenure Commission recommends suspension without pay for Gorcyca in Tsimhoni custody case," November 15, 2016
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Detroit Free Press, "Judge releases 'jailed' kids, sends them to summer camp," July 10, 2015
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs nameddad - ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs nameddaily - ↑ The Oakland Press, "Gorcyca sends three children to summer camp; both parents can visit," July 10, 2015
- ↑ Bloomfield-Bloomfield Hills Patch, "Kids Who Refused Lunch with Dad Now Living With Him," September 9, 2015
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Tsimhoni mom continues fight to oust judge from case," October 7, 2015
- ↑ FOX 17, "Michigan judge accused of misconduct withdraws from siblings case," December 29, 2015
Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan
State courts:
Michigan Supreme Court • Michigan Court of Appeals • Michigan Circuit Court • Michigan Court of Claims • Michigan District Courts • Michigan Municipal Courts • Michigan Probate Courts
State resources:
Courts in Michigan • Michigan judicial elections • Judicial selection in Michigan
