Judge Sued Over Maserati Incident
A lawsuit claims a New Jersey judge should be tossed from the bench because of his actions against a man he accused of scratching his Maserati.
The suit, filed in federal court in Newark, claims Judge George R. Korpita of Rockaway Borough abused the legal process and violated the civil rights of the plaintiff, the New Jersey Law Journal reports.
The plaintiff, securities dealer Warren Hartzman, said he may have been leaning on the car when the judge emerged from the restaurant and began yelling at him to get off his Maserati. The judge used profanity and threatened violence, the suit said. Hartzman responded that the judge was an “asshole” and a “pompous jerk.”
A short time later, Hartzman was arrested but was released after he experienced chest pains. Afterward, he received a complaint from the Rockaway municipal court charging him with causing a public inconvenience and annoyance by intentionally scratching the Maserati.
Hartzman denied he caused the scratches, but said he paid for repairs after the judge wrote a letter to his defense attorney saying he would end the matter if Hartzman paid restitution, agreed not to go back to the restaurant and apologized. “I am not happy with his actions but don’t want to see him have a problem with his securities license,” the letter read.
