Recusal in GOP lawsuit against Curran -- is another coming?

                                                                           

Nassau Supreme Court building in Mineola

A Nassau Supreme Court judge has recused himself from presiding over a lawsuit brought by Republican County legislators John Ferretti of Levittown and Steve Rhoads of Bellmore against Democratic County Executive Laura Curran.

But Justice Christopher Quinn probably will not be the only judge who recuses himself in this case.

The two GOP legislators filed suit last month, demanding Curran abide by a legislative resolution passed unanimously in December that required her to "immediately" restore data on the county website that provides homeowners with individual estimates of the tax impact of a five-year phase-in of Curran's 2018 reassessment.

The county had included a line about the phase-in when it posted school property tax bills on Nov. 1, But the data was removed the next day.

Court spokesman Dan Bagnuola confirmed today that Quinn had recused himself from the case.

A new law requires judges, in most cases, to give a reason why they recuse themselves.

Quinn wrote in his Feb. 17 order, "The basis of my recusal is that I wish to avoid any potential appearance of impropriety that my impartiality might be questioned." He said he had known Rhoads for many years and officiated at the swearing in ceremony when Rhoads was first elected to the county legislature.

To date, none of the case arguments have been posted online because they were filed in paper, rather than electronically.

Bagnuola also confirmed that the Republican legislators' lawsuit is now assigned to Supreme Court Justice David Gugerty.

Until he was cross endorsed in 2019 as a candidate for Supreme Court, Gugerty was the Democratic commissioner at the Nassau Board of Elections. He served for a decade as the Oyster Bay Town Democratic leader. Gugerty also was counsel for Democratic county legislators when they were in the majority and in the minority.

It is hard to imagine that the case would pose a conflict for Quinn, a registered Republican who was cross endorsed  in 2017 for Supreme Court after serving in lower courts for more than a decade, and not for Gugerty.

But that will be something for Gugerty to decide.

Meanwhile, the county has moved to dismiss the legislators' lawsuit. According to Patch.com, County Attorney Jared Kasschau argues the legislators "lack standing" and  "inappropriately seek to dictate how the information can be posted."

(Talk about conflict! Kasschau actually represents the county executive and the county legislature under the county charter. But that didn't stop him from suing the legislature in 2018 for allegedly providing inadequate notice of its budget changes. Kasschau later withdrew the suit.)

County officials have said the initial impact data was confusing to residents. Curran told Ferretti in a letter that she will be posting the information with "appropriate cautionary language."