Disciplinary Panel punishes judge for unethical behaviour

According to the decision of the disciplinary panel of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic, the disciplinary defendant JUDr. Barbara Plaskurová as a judge of the District Court in Trenčín, workplace Nové Mesto nad Váhom, caused delays in court proceedings, undermined the seriousness and dignity of the conduct of hearings, behaved in a disparaging manner towards judicial clerks and imposed on them a disproportionate number of work tasks and duties with a high degree of urgency, which could not be fulfilled within the given deadlines. For this, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic imposed on her a cumulative disciplinary measure in the form of a 70 % reduction in her salary for a period of one year (Case No. 32 D 6/2023).

The Disciplinary Panel found the judge guilty of a disciplinary offence for failing to comply with the statutory time limits for the preparation and dispatch of judgments in five cases, thereby breaching the judge’s duty to perform her duties conscientiously and to act expeditiously and without unnecessary delay in the cases assigned to her.

The judge also violated the judge’s obligation to refrain from any action that could undermine the dignity and respect for the office of judge and to observe the principles of judicial ethics by informing the parties during the hearings, in the presence of the parties, outside the context of the cases under discussion, about her health problems, by asking for security information about the registration in the register, by telephoning her family member, by informing her assistant about the telephone call to the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic regarding the organisation of the court, by refusing to open the ordered hearing, which she started only on the basis of a strong order from the Vice-president of the Court and by not being familiar with the court file at her hearing.

“The judge is essentially the guardian of the dignity of the judicial process. If a judge can impose a fine for improper behaviour during a hearing, it is all the more expected that he or she should refrain from doing so and set an example of how to behave in the courtroom,” said Michal Matulnik, president of the panel, when announcing the decision on the dignity of conducting hearings.

In its decision, the Disciplinary Panel further stated that Barbara Plaskurová had committed serious disciplinary misconduct by causing constant pressure and time stress on judicial clerks by imposing a disproportionate number of work tasks and duties on them, which she described as urgent, and by repeatedly contacting them by telephone when they were absent from the workplace.

In addition, the judge seriously undermined the dignity and respectability of the office of judge and violated the principles of judicial ethics by placing in the file a submission concerning a judicial clerk in which she questioned his competence and experience, a fact with which the parties to the proceedings had nothing to do. She behaved in an insulting and patronising manner towards the clerk. She gave the judicial clerk short deadlines for the preparation of judgments which, given the size of the case-file, were objectively impossible to meet.

The court did not uphold the remaining part of the disciplinary petition filed by the president of the District Court Nové Mesto nad Váhom.

In view of the disciplinary measure imposed, the decision is subject to remedy by the petitioner.

The decision of the Disciplinary Panel was adopted by a vote of 5:0.

In the disciplinary case of the President of the District Court Nové Mesto nad Váhom c/a Judge JUDr. Barbara Plaskurová, Panel No 32D of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic, composed of: the President of the Panel, JUDr. Michal Matulník, PhD (judge-rapporteur); judges JUDr. Anita Filová and JUDr. Michal Dzurdzík, PhD; lay judges Mgr. Marianna Leontiev and doc. JUDr. Marián Giba.