Dearborn Residents Call for Action Against Judge Somers

Several Dearborn residents spoke out at Monday night’s city council meeting about what action–if any–should be taken against Chief Justice Mark Somers.

Somers has to former employees of the court, both alleging that they were unfairly terminated, among other claims. The suits filed by probation officer Simone Calvas and former court administrator Julie Pucci resulted in $463,820 and $732,361 awards, respectively.

A third lawsuit filed by another former court employee is in the works in federal court.

As a result, local media, law officials and residents alike have been calling for Judge Somers to step down or for some action to be taken against him.

Dearborn resident Bobbie Justice, who came to Monday’s city council meeting with her husband, Rob, to speak out about Somers, is planning to take things a step further than discussion.

“The first thing we wanted to explore is where city council stood,” Justice said after Monday’s meeting.

What she found is that although several council members agree that Somers’ lawsuits are eating up taxpayer money, there’s not much they can do about it.

“I share in your frustration and I think some of my colleagues do as well,” Councilman Robert Abraham said during the meeting. “The last thing we want to do is use funding in a way that doesn’t provide value to our customers, which are the taxpayers and voters.”

“In a lot of ways, our hands are tied,” Abraham said. “We’re sitting here just as you are and watching these things unravel.”

The city holds that they are not responsible for the cost of Pucci’s lawsuit as it was against Somers as an individual–not the court.

But regardless of who foots the bill, one resident said Monday night, "It does reflect on Dearborn and it is going to come out of our pockets somehow."

Councilman Abraham, for one, agreed. But he and other council members also pointed out at Monday night’s meeting that there’s little action they can take against Somers.

“The ballot box is the forum (for action against Judge Somers),” Council President Tom Tafelski said Monday.

Justice said she plans to campaign against Somers when his seat is up in 2014. But for now, Justice called on the council and residents to put pressure on Somers to settle the lawsuit with Pucci and said that if he did, she would call the dogs off.

“If (Somers) took responsibility and apologized and settled and spared us the money, I would not go any further,” Justice said Monday. “I think he’s bargaining on us sitting quietly on this, and we need to take a stand.”

Somers filed a motion on July 8 to have the Pucci lawsuit ruling thrown out.

Justice said she may plan a rally in front of the courthouse in the near future and plans to make an official complaint to the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission about Somers.

According to the Detroit Free Press, it’s not the first time a complaint has been made about Somers.

Dearborn resident Nancy Siwik said she wrote the panel in 2006 after seeing Somers go off the record to ask defendants whether they went to church or used "Satan's surge" – a name she said he used to describe marijuana.

"At some point, if you closed your eyes, you might think you were in church," Siwik testified during former Dearborn deputy court administrator Julie Pucci's civil trial. "I didn't think it was proper for the courtroom."

That complaint was dismissed by the commission.

Still, Justice said she plans to keep Somers’ feet to the fire.

“Somebody has to do something about this,” she said. “He’s not in touch with reality. The courthouse is his playground.”