As some of you recall, In February, I filed a formal complaint with the Administrative Office of the Court (AOC) against the clerk’s office that handles criminal complaints. Then I filed a Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) complaint against the Judge who could not handle his paperwork.
I was assigned an Attorney from the AOC, named Sarah Blodgett. Within a week, she set up a phone interview, and we discussed the matter. The conversation was professional, polite, and productive. In March, she helped close out the paperwork and wrote a letter accepting responsibility for what had happened. It was a refreshing and overall positive experience—no word on the JCC complaint.
For over 2 years, I have brought Right-to-Know cases through the Nashua Civil Court, and the experience has been harassing and stressful. The Clerks and Judges are mishandling the paperwork causing what are supposed to be priority hearings to be dragged out into lengthy Trials. This is done to dissuade citizens from Petitioning the Court for records violations. This process strongly favors the municipalities.
In 2013, Justice Nadeau signed an Administrative Order (AO 2013-08) permitting about 40 different types of civil matters to be exempt from 6 Trial Rules. This is done to expedite the process, reduce the burden on the Court and the parties as well as costs. Right-to-Know cases are exempt from these Trial rules unless a Judge specifically orders these rules to be enforced.
In Nashua, Judge Temple is enforcing all these Rules turning relatively simple cases into full trials. His Courtroom process has shut down all legal representation for Nashua citizens on RTK cases as no attorney wants to deal with this mess. Judge Temple’s process for these cases drives up the legal cost to the plaintiff’s rendering it financially impossible for people to obtain their records. My first represented case with Judge Temple (and now my last represented case) cost me over $250,000, and the case, which was filed in February 2020, is still awaiting rulings. It will take almost 4 years to move it out of Superior Court. The City is appealing my small victories to the Supreme Court; That process will add another 18 months to 2 years, and then it might be over. All this to access public records. More to come on this Judge. Judge Temple likes trials.
The Civil Court Clerk’s Office, which should be working hand-in-hand with the Judges, just seems to be doing its own thing. When you file an RTK lawsuit, it is accepted, and then documents are emailed to the Plaintiff to serve Notice to the City that a lawsuit has been filed. Most lawsuits require the defendant to file answers to the claims in the lawsuit, but AO 2013-08 does not require RTK lawsuits to be answered, thereby expediting the process which is afforded to the person filing under the Right-to-Know Law.
The Clerk’s office did not get the memo. They are scheduling expedited hearings that are almost always canceled because the dates on their paperwork allow the City to have almost a month more in time to provide answers. Yup, the paperwork is automatically printing out that Answers must be provided 30 days after the lawsuit is received. So, the City, typically a week or less before the hearing, files a motion to continue because they need more time to provide answers. I have never had a Right-to-Know case scheduled that was actually held. They are all postponed and delayed.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Civil Clerk’s Office at the Nashua Court House and spoke with the Supervisor. I informed her of AO 2013-08 and showed her how the dates printed on the Notices make no sense. I asked her if the Judge was ordering these lawsuits to be answered. The Clerk responded no; the computer just automatically prints the form. The Clerk later informed me that she knew the process was wrong but that she would keep processing them wrong until the AOC ordered her to correct her process. That is certainly a “go screw yourself’ response.
I connected with an Attorney at the AOC named Attorney Karen Gorham. She has been useless and unprofessional. I started this process six weeks ago and she has not picked up the phone or taken any corrective action to fix this mess. My emails are being ignored. Ms. Blodgett could fix a problem relatively quickly; Ms. Gorham is sitting on her hands.
This Nashua Court System, with 3 Judges removed in the last 5 years, is a mess. More people need to be removed. There is no due process and justice in this Court, and anyone involved with this system has to expect the worst and be grateful for anything better—more articles to come.
