Controversy follows coin flip by judge
Toss decided where and with whom 2 young girls would spend Christmas
February 4, 2002
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Tossing a coin may be a good way to start a football game, but is it a proper way for a judge to decide where the children of a broken marriage will spend Christmas Day?
Trenton grandfather Norman Bresinski said he doesn't think so.
The former Downriver police sergeant is threatening to file a judicial misconduct complaint against Wayne County Circuit Judge Helen Brown for flipping a coin at a Dec. 14 court hearing to decide that Bresinski's granddaughters would spend Christmas with their father.
"In 22 years of being in local, state and federal courts, I've never seen anything like this," Bresinski, now a plumbing contractor, said Friday. "She made a mockery of the judicial process."
Brown, 53, a $139,919-a-year Family Court division judge, wouldn't discuss the incident. But her boss said she was wrong.
"Tossing a coin to resolve a parenting time dispute is unacceptable," Wayne County Circuit Co-Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly said Friday. Kelly said it displays a lack of sensitivity for the seriousness of the process.
Detroit lawyer Philip Colista, former chairman of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, said the coin flip violated Michigan court rules. He said judges are supposed to decide issues based on the law, the facts and the best interest of the children -- not by chance.
Here's what happened according to Bresinski and the lawyers who witnessed the incident:
Bresinski's daughter, Elizabeth, and her former husband, David Bousquette, divorced last February after nine years of marriage. A judge gave her custody of their daughters, and her ex-husband received parenting time.
When she moved to Arizona to accept a new job, she took the children with her. After Bousquette objected, she returned the girls, ages 6 and 7, to Michigan to live with her parents, Bresinski and his wife, Deborah.
Bousquette then went to court to obtain custody of his daughters. A Friend of the Court referee recommended that Bousquette get custody of the girls if he bought a house and switched to the day shift at Rouge Steel, where he works as a materials handler.
When Bousquette fulfilled the conditions and told the Bresinskis that he would be taking custody of his daughters, the grandparents filed an emergency motion to stop him until the court conducted a hearing to verify that he fulfilled the conditions.
Brown decided at a court hearing Dec. 14 that the grandparents lacked legal standing to contest custody and said Bousquette could have his daughters after a series of daily transitional visits. Still, Brown was willing to consider the grandparents' wisheson where the girls should spend Christmas.
Bresinski said the girls had lived with him for six months and had spent weeks decorating their home for Christmas.
But when he and Bousquette couldn't agree on how to divvy up the holiday, Brown pulled out a coin, flipped it and told them to call heads or tails.
Bresinski said he protested: "I'm not going to decide something like that with a coin flip."
Bousquette called heads and won the toss and the right to have the girls on the night of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.
Bousquette's lawyer, Ronald D'Avanzo of Southgate, said the judge wasn't legally obliged to give the Bresinskis any consideration. Besides, he said, the girls spent the previous Christmas with their mother, and it was Bousquette's turn to have them.
"I think the judge was trying to get them to work it out," D'Avanzo said. "I don't think she did it in any way to abrogate her decision making."
The Bresinskis' lawyer, Gary Gardner of Dearborn, mostly agreed but conceded that the coin flip was a problem. "It's not the way I would have handled it," he said.
The new co-chief judge, Kelly, expressed surprise that Brown would decide an issue with a coin flip. Just last month, Kelly said, a fathers advocacy group gave Brown an award for respecting the rights of fathers.
Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER at 313-223-4490 or ashenf@freepress.com.
Toss decided where and with whom 2 young girls would spend Christmas
February 4, 2002
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Tossing a coin may be a good way to start a football game, but is it a proper way for a judge to decide where the children of a broken marriage will spend Christmas Day?
Trenton grandfather Norman Bresinski said he doesn't think so.
The former Downriver police sergeant is threatening to file a judicial misconduct complaint against Wayne County Circuit Judge Helen Brown for flipping a coin at a Dec. 14 court hearing to decide that Bresinski's granddaughters would spend Christmas with their father.
"In 22 years of being in local, state and federal courts, I've never seen anything like this," Bresinski, now a plumbing contractor, said Friday. "She made a mockery of the judicial process."
Brown, 53, a $139,919-a-year Family Court division judge, wouldn't discuss the incident. But her boss said she was wrong.
"Tossing a coin to resolve a parenting time dispute is unacceptable," Wayne County Circuit Co-Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly said Friday. Kelly said it displays a lack of sensitivity for the seriousness of the process.
Detroit lawyer Philip Colista, former chairman of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, said the coin flip violated Michigan court rules. He said judges are supposed to decide issues based on the law, the facts and the best interest of the children -- not by chance.
Here's what happened according to Bresinski and the lawyers who witnessed the incident:
Bresinski's daughter, Elizabeth, and her former husband, David Bousquette, divorced last February after nine years of marriage. A judge gave her custody of their daughters, and her ex-husband received parenting time.
When she moved to Arizona to accept a new job, she took the children with her. After Bousquette objected, she returned the girls, ages 6 and 7, to Michigan to live with her parents, Bresinski and his wife, Deborah.
Bousquette then went to court to obtain custody of his daughters. A Friend of the Court referee recommended that Bousquette get custody of the girls if he bought a house and switched to the day shift at Rouge Steel, where he works as a materials handler.
When Bousquette fulfilled the conditions and told the Bresinskis that he would be taking custody of his daughters, the grandparents filed an emergency motion to stop him until the court conducted a hearing to verify that he fulfilled the conditions.
Brown decided at a court hearing Dec. 14 that the grandparents lacked legal standing to contest custody and said Bousquette could have his daughters after a series of daily transitional visits. Still, Brown was willing to consider the grandparents' wisheson where the girls should spend Christmas.
Bresinski said the girls had lived with him for six months and had spent weeks decorating their home for Christmas.
But when he and Bousquette couldn't agree on how to divvy up the holiday, Brown pulled out a coin, flipped it and told them to call heads or tails.
Bresinski said he protested: "I'm not going to decide something like that with a coin flip."
Bousquette called heads and won the toss and the right to have the girls on the night of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.
Bousquette's lawyer, Ronald D'Avanzo of Southgate, said the judge wasn't legally obliged to give the Bresinskis any consideration. Besides, he said, the girls spent the previous Christmas with their mother, and it was Bousquette's turn to have them.
"I think the judge was trying to get them to work it out," D'Avanzo said. "I don't think she did it in any way to abrogate her decision making."
The Bresinskis' lawyer, Gary Gardner of Dearborn, mostly agreed but conceded that the coin flip was a problem. "It's not the way I would have handled it," he said.
The new co-chief judge, Kelly, expressed surprise that Brown would decide an issue with a coin flip. Just last month, Kelly said, a fathers advocacy group gave Brown an award for respecting the rights of fathers.
Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER at 313-223-4490 or ashenf@freepress.com.