Judicial Retaliation at Its Worst
NJ Family Court Retaliates Against Forensic Psychiatrist for Criticizing Corrupt System
Guardian ad Litem or Guardian of Corruption?
NJ Family Court Attorney Evelyn Nissirios Accused of Silencing Renowned Psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee
Family Court Shenanigans!
The Unknown Podcast Exposes How Gag Orders are Abused in Bergen County, Miami-Dade County, and Beyond
On the August 21, 2024, episode of The Unknown Podcast, investigative journalists Michael Volpe and Richard Luthmann discuss alarming First Amendment issues related to gag orders in family court cases.
Luthmann highlights the case of Dr. Bandy Lee, a renowned forensic psychiatrist and faculty member at Harvard's Program in Psychiatry and the Law. Dr. Lee and her sister, Patricia, are embroiled in a legal battle against the Bergen County, New Jersey, Family Court. Judge Jane Gallina-Mecca issued a gag order against her at the behest of Guardian ad Litem (GAL) Evelyn Nissirios.
Dr. Lee contends that the gag order is an unconstitutional effort to silence her criticism of GAL Nissirios, who Dr. Lee accuses of gross misconduct and endangering children. Dr. Lee and Patricia have filed a federal case in the District of New Jersey to counter the family court corruption.
Luthmann and Volpe agree that gag orders are often used as tools to suppress critics and cover up judicial corruption.
Michael Volpe highlights these concerns by recounting his experience with a similar case in Miami-Dade County, Florida, where courts attempted to trick him into complying with an unconstitutional gag order due to his reporting on family court corruption.
Both Volpe and Luthmann argue that the media is often the only recourse for family court litigants to expose judicial abuse and bring about real change. Dr. Lee's case has drawn attention to the broader issue of how courts can overreach by stifling free speech, particularly in cases involving children and family disputes.
Luthmann compares the situation to historical cases of judicial reform, such as the infamous New York State Judge Crater's organized crime-linked disappearance, which led to major changes in New York's court system nearly a century ago.
Michael Volpe
All right, so we are going to Bergen County, New Jersey. What is happening in Bergen County? They're silencing a renowned forensic psychiatrist with a sham gag order. What's going on here?
Richard Luthmann
Dr. Bandy Lee is one of the most brilliant people in forensic psychiatry. She is just well-regarded by the United Nations. She's a former faculty member at Yale Medical School and Law School. She's at Harvard now. She's just one of these brilliant people. I don't agree with her politically about things. She basically thinks that Donald Trump is a walking psychopath. I don't. But I do respect her credentials enough to say that what she says in the family court about things is pretty well-established medical evidence.
Richard Luthmann
And so you have a court in New Jersey where Dr. Lee's sister, Patricia Lee, is the litigant. Dr. Lee has basically a vested interest in these others because they are her nieces. She's been speaking out about the case. About how the intimidation, the retaliation, the fact that these courts and the Guardian ad litem, Evelyn Nissirios, and the Judge, Jane Gallina-Mecca have basically, they've thrown out due process, and it’s what we normally see in a lot of these corrupt family courts where it's just ‘Pay to play.’
Richard Luthmann
And, they don't want to have any type of ruffles or any type of problems. So what they're trying to do is threaten Patricia. And they also included Bandy Lee in the gag order. She's actually under the order itself.
Michael Volpe
Now, how, if she's not a party to the case, how could they include her in the gag order? How are they going to enforce a gag order against someone?
Richard Luthmann
They're going to enforce it against the sister. They'll harm the sister. But it's New Jersey. They really don't care. They'll put whoever they want in the order. They'll write the order first and worry about whether it's legal much later on. That's really how that New Jersey family court system operates. Probably one of the cesspools of the country. And it's the same thing that we saw in the Beerman LLP and Girard case. In Bergen County, New Jersey, that's probably another one of the top 20 counties nationally. Bergen is a high net-worth place, and that's what they do. They put the money on the table and let the lawyers fight it out. That's basically how it is.
Richard Luthmann
So it's a crooked gag order. Bandy Lee, the fact that they would do that to someone so accomplished, the fact that they do that to a litigant anyway. The lawyers in a case are always allowed to speak about the legal claims being advanced, about the facts of the case, about the plans for the litigation, that type of thing. The fact is that they would gag a litigant further than they would gag a lawyer. And they would also gag an expert like Bandy Lee further than they would gag a lawyer. She can't even talk about the case as it relates to general concepts of psychiatry and everything. That is, it smacks of a violation.
Richard Luthmann
Actually, Bandy Lee and Patricia Lee have filed a federal lawsuit as well. So they are in federal court on this case. And the gag order is partially in retaliation for the filed federal court case. So the same way we have the Girard case where they tried, this case is in federal court. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Illinois courts try to do some of the same retaliatory actions.
Michael Volpe
We will see, but we're covering them. And so right now, I think they're feeling the heat. I got an article up. I dealt with something like this. This is from 2021, Miami-Dade, another very wealthy area. I did several stories out of there each time they tried to violate the First Amendment rights of the litigant involved.
Michael Volpe
And so I did a story about a guy named Eric Satin, and then immediately a motion was filed, and it says the former husband's notice of filing video recording of former husband's interview dated June 23rd, 2021, that's when we interviewed Eric, has a direct link to social media posting about this case. The former husband posted his on social media page and stated, I'm sharing my interview from this afternoon about corruption in my family court case. My segment starts at 42 minutes.
Michael Volpe
Keep in mind, this motion is basically saying that it's bad, that you would do an interview and go on social media and talk about it. Moreover, the husband posted on his Facebook page the link to another video, the quote-unquote journalist, that's me, website, but also stated (start this video at 33 minutes): “There is an investigation of the family court corruption involving my ex-wife, the judge, and the guardian involved in my case. I still have no access to my children. Please pray for my case.”
Michael Volpe
And so the judge actually ordered, and I think here is the order of the judge: “The former husband and his counsel, Leslie Federicos, upon entry of this order, shall immediately serve a written request copying the wife's counsel to Michael Volpe and Kenneth Rosa, who's a father's rights activist, and any other media outlet or third-party sources to remove information related to this case, including but not limited to any information broadcast in the minor children's names, their likeness, or otherwise discusses involves information related to the children or this case. The written request shall be issued immediately after that.”
Richard Luthmann
And that's the most important part, that last sentence, ‘This written request shall be issued immediately.’ That's all it is. It's a written request, but you didn't go to law school, and a lot of people wouldn't know the frigging difference if it comes from legal language that this is something that no judge in the United States of America has the power to do.
Michael Volpe
Speaking of that, shortly after this “agreed order” was signed, a lawyer named Joel Hirshhorn reached out, stating in part, and this is what he wrote in the email, “Please see the attached order [that I just read], kindly comply, with paragraph five, you are on notice.” And this guy, Joel Hirshhorn, tried to convince me, as you said, because I'm not a lawyer, that I am required to do something, even though, as we read, I'm required to do nothing. And all Eric is required to do is ask me to remove it.
Michael Volpe
But these kinds of gag orders are quite common. They shouldn't be common. They're a violation of your First Amendment. And what they're doing in Bandy's case is extremely outrageous, but it's certainly not unique. It's disgusting.
Richard Luthmann
It's chilling on speech. Judges should know better. But where's the recourse? You know, you can file a complaint about Judge Jane Gallina-Mecca. You file can a complaint about the Guardian ad liem Evelyn Nissirios. And the only recourse, really, Michael, is here in the media. The only recourse is to write about it, to talk about it, and to let everybody know what these bad actors are doing. So, hopefully, there will be a reckoning.
Richard Luthmann
And I wrote about a bit of that in my recent Frank Report article. I'd ask everybody to go over there and look about that, about the disappearance of Judge Crater in New York back in 1930 and how the media coverage around the disappearance of a judge who was linked to organized crime and corruption effectively ended Tammany Hall in New York. And are we seeing a similar situation potentially in the family courts today with some of these corrupt judges?
Richard Luthmann
And it's a reckoning that is going to come from the mass media. It is going to come from people like you and me and others shining a bright light and creating a public outrage that needs to be there for there to be real change.
Courts Gag Free Speech, Media Fights Back