Judicial Misconduct – Judge John Curren

by
Laurie Ortolano

My indoctrination, starting three years ago, to the New Hampshire Judicial System has been fraught with frustration and stress.

As some of you know, I filed numerous Right-to-Know lawsuits against the City of Nashua and received some favorable rulings. It has been a long, slogging challenging process. I also have a criminal case before the 9th District Case regarding arrest in City Hall for trespassing.

I pleaded my trespass charge to a violation and, in June, Judge Curren signed off, within days of submission, on a conditional discharge. I was eligible to annul, so on July 7, 2022, the paperwork was submitted to put this behind me.

On July 22, 2022, I went to City Hall to collect some paperwork located in the legal office. The City email portal had been down for several days and the letter could not be accessed. Given the deep animus and hostility Attorney Bolton exhibits towards me, I called the office from the hallway to request the correspondence.

By chance, Attorney Bolton opened the door, saw me standing in the hallway and started shouting – ”leave, you’re trespassing, I’ll have you arrested.” I was stunned and frightened. The police arrived at City Hall and Attorney Bolton requested I be arrested immediately.

The Police conducted an investigation and on August 1, 2022, cleared me of any wrongdoing. The report noted that Attorney Bolton was unreasonable and angry.

Laurie Ortolano – Police Incident Report 7_22_22 Bolton trespassing 22-43246-OF

When the report was issued, the police attached the conditional discharge notice. Mayor Donchess and Attorney Bolton sprang into action and hired Attorney Brian Cullen to intervene. On September 12, 2022, the City filed a frivolous pleading requesting a hearing and intervention to stop the annulment.

Laurie Ortolano – Nashua City Motion to Intervene 20220912

Under the law, the City of Nashua had no standing to intervene, but given their deep pockets lined with taxpayer dollars, they were successful in ambushing my ability to resolve the matter in a timely manner. Judge Curren now had another filing to act upon.

Judge Curren has failed to complete the order. Apparently, this is a newly assigned Judge with little experience. My annulment was filed over 210 days ago and the City’s Motion to Intervene was filed 137 days ago. Well past the 60 day order deadline noted on the Court index for the case. My attorney started following up in November.

In December, the Court clerks informed us that the Judge denied the City’s Motion to Intervene and the order would be out in days. It never came. Upon visiting the Court again, the Clerk explained that the Judge forgot to sign off on the annulment so back to his desk it went. The Clerk was hopeful this would be completed in a week and noted she had never seen a case handled like this. The order never arrived.

I am now learning from other Defendants and parties that orders are taking 7 or more months with no explanation provided and no communication for the delays. This Judge appears to be wrongly holding people in incarceration and negatively affecting citizen’s lives. The personal attacks and the abuse from the City has been punishing and personal in my case and Judge Curren has joined in contributing to this situation.

The Courts have a responsibility to place competent Judges who know how to write and perform their duties in a timely manner. Judge Curren cannot produce orders in a timely manner.

Where is the professional courtesy in this Judge to communicate when an order is expected? Does this Judge have a clerk assigned to him and if he has one, perhaps he needs two? How many months am I to patiently wait before complaining? And who do I complain to?

Today, I am filing a formal complaint against the Judge with the Judicial Conduct Committee. His actions constitute misconduct. Competency matters. The system should be monitoring performance but who is the system? Someone, find us competent, professional Judges.

Author

Share to...