In UTR Cribs, Article III Groupie dishes the dirt about the lavish homes of federal judges. Today's report involves a very lavish home -- and lots of dirt, both figuratively and literally.
Judge Jerome Farris, a senior judge on the Ninth Circuit (and that court's first African-American member), owns a truly amazing residence. It's an 8,000 square foot, $2.4 million house, located in the lovely Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle.* The judicial mansion boasts remarkable views of Lake Washington.
These jaw-dropping views were enhanced in 2003, when Judge Farris instructed his gardener to chop down more than 120 trees that were obstructing the home's water views. And what was the problem with this landscape redesign, you ask? Well, the trees that were chopped down -- including some indigenous cherry trees, à la George Washington -- weren't on Judge Farris's property. They were in a public park...
Sure enough, litigation ensued between Judge Farris and the city of Seattle. Judge Farris settled the case in 2003, by agreeing to pay $500,000 to restore Colman Park. But now, as reported in this Seattle Times column by Danny Westneat (which a UTR reader kindly brought to A3G's attention), Judge Farris is dragging his gavel in terms of paying up.
Almost three years have passed since the settlement, but Judge Farris has paid less than half of the tab. As a result, the city has placed a lien on Judge Farris's luxurious house (which he still owns, although he no longer lives in it).
The delay in payment may be due to Judge Farris's effort to get his homeowner's insurance to foot the bill -- which has spawned even more litigation. Westneat's article offers this report on the judge's case against his insurer, Farmers Insurance:
In his lawsuit, [Judge Farris] says none of it was his fault. He had the "mistaken but reasonable belief" that he had the city's OK to trim trees. He says he told his Vietnamese gardener only to trim the trees, and a language mixup led the gardener to turn part of the park into a "disaster zone."
Uh-oh... This does not sound good. The moral of the story? Next time, Judge Farris, get your law clerks to do your landscaping!**
* How could Judge Farris -- who worked in private practice for only ten years or so, before becoming a state court judge -- afford a multimillion-dollar manse? Rumor has it that His Honor made a killing through outside investments, including extensive real estate holdings.
** This is, quite obviously, a joke; making one's law clerks perform groundskeeping and gardening would be improper. Of course, even though judges shouldn't ask law clerks to perform personal errands for them, many judges do impose upon their clerks in this manner. See, e.g., this "Justice Is Blind" post (first and fourth items).
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