In New Paltz , Celeste Tesoriero is trying to unseat town justice Jonathan Katz.
Celeste Tesoriero
Tesoriero is the Green party candidate for town justice.
Are local written decisions important as precedents? How many have you written in the past year, and how do you decide which rulings to commit in writing?
Yes they are important, here’s why. Writing a decision records a lower court’s application of a more generalized law to specific facts. This gives other people with a similar set of facts knowledge as to what a lower court will or should do if they bring a lawsuit themselves. It’s a powerful tool for information that benefits not just the people in our town, but the entire state. If the case has a novel set of facts or issues, one that I haven’t seen addressed in case law, I would consider it my job to write a decision to contribute to the body of law that allows citizens to know which behavior falls within or outside of the law. It is well known to the legal community that my opponent does not write decisions, and this is thought to be a time-saving measure as writing a decision takes work, and ultimately is not mandated but extremely helpful to the community.
What laws and local policies guide decisions on granting adjournments in civil matters, and how is the financial burden on the other party weighed when adjournments are requested?
The local policies are that of the sitting judges. What’s happening now is adjournments in all cases are routinely and repeatedly granted. For someone facing a traffic ticket this can be compassionate, allowing them to address their other life concerns. But what happens is people that sue businesses in New Paltz under Katz are seeing their cases pushed back again and again, sometimes without prior notice. If you run a business, part of that business needs to be having legal counsel to appear on your behalf. No one thinks if they sued their local car garage they could end up a year for a court date, but that’s what happening. There is no law against this, but I don’t feel it’s good or fair policy.
Is it ever appropriate to allow an attorney to settle a civil matter without their client present? Should the financial burden of appearing in person be considered as a factor? Why or why not?
Yes, of course. When you sue someone you have to sue them where they live. New Paltz has a large transitioning population, which means the people that live here move a lot. Judges are allowed to have an attorney represent the interests of a person who cannot attend in person themselves, specifically to take into account that real life doesn’t always allow people the opportunity to travel and take time from work for court appearances. This is something that unfortunately is not being embraced by New Paltz’s sitting judges. Yes, the financial burden should be taken into account, but it currently isn’t. A New Paltz judge recently dismissed a case for a renter who lived in California, but had a firm case against their landlord. The judge suggested the renter fly in for it. When told the flight would cost more than the lawsuit, he shrugged. This is not compassionate behavior.
Current court policy precludes the acceptance of cash to pay fines. Is there anything in federal law which supports or contradicts such a policy?
31 U.S.C. Sec. 5103 designates cash as legal tender for payment of debts. New York County Supreme Court found there is a reasonableness standard to be applied when a municipality refuses cash, i.e., is it an unreasonable burden on them to accept cash payment? Nemser v. NY City Tr. Auth., 140 Misc. 2d 369 – NY: Supreme Court 1988. My opponent does not allow cash payments to be made at the courthouse, which is presenting a burden to court users. Whether I think this is legal under the current law, actually, I do not. Further, it’s unnecessarily burdensome to court users. If I were elected, making the court a user-friendly entity would be a top priority. There also isn’t an email or court website, and you can’t plead online. There are a lot of things that other courts are doing that we aren’t, and that is at the discretion and direction of my opponent, unfortunately.
Jonathan Katz
Katz will appear on the Democrat and Independence party lines
Are local written decisions important as precedents? How many have you written in the past year, and how do you decide which rulings to commit in writing?Â
Lower court decisions are not usually cited as authority unless no superior courts have ruled on the particular issue. Lower courts include city, district, civil, criminal, and town and village courts.
What laws and local policies guide decisions on granting adjournments in civil matters, and how is the financial burden on the other party weighed when adjournments are requested?
There are no laws or policies that guide decisions relating to adjournments.
Is it ever appropriate to allow an attorney to settle a civil matter without their client present? Should the financial burden of appearing in person be considered as a factor? Why or why not?Â
Superior court civil cases are settled routinely without clients present, clients being both people and corporations. It is assumed that an attorney that enters into a settlement has the authority to do so. By virtue of the cases we have in the lower courts, clients are almost always present.
Current court policy precludes the acceptance of cash to pay fines. Is there anything in federal law which supports or contradicts such a policy?Â
Accepting money orders and credit/debit cards — only — is an accounting decision.
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