A longtime Brooklyn judge spent nearly two years dodging a stack of sanitation violations by repeatedly flaunting her judicial status to avoid hearings and get out of paying a paltry $150 in fines, a court ethics board found.
asserted
board → spend → fines
Diva Justice Katherine Levine spent 20 months fighting the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings over three minor trash violations, earning herself an admonition from the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, according to a release Monday.
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Levine → spend → release
The Commission found that the judge’s “unnecessary and repeated references to her judicial office created the appearance that she was inappropriately seeking special treatment,” the panel wrote in its findings.
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panel → find → findings
“Invoking judicial office to avoid paying a fine undermines public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary and suggests that judges are exempt from rules that apply to everyone else,” added commission administrator Robert Tembeckjian.
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Tembeckjian → invoke → everyone
“The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings was right not to give special treatment to a judge, and Judge Levine accepted responsibility for her conduct by agreeing an admonition was appropriate.”
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admonition → give → conduct
On at least eight occasions, Levine “repeatedly and gratuitously invoked her judicial title; her judicial status” while being a scofflaw, according to the investigation.
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Levine → invoke → investigation
The stink started in March 2024, when sanitation workers discovered a “large accumulation” of napkins, papers, egg cartons and other trash in the driveway of her Borough Park home, where she’s lived since 1996, records show.
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records → start → 1996
, Levine decided to make a plea to her innocence — and began mentioning her title.
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Levine → decide → title
“i plead not guilty,” she wrote in an online submission 10 days later.
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she → plead → submission
“I am a supreme Court Justice in Kings County and went to work at 10 am.”
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I → go → am
OATH found her guilty, but she failed to pay the fine, the CJC said.
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CJC → find → fine
The next spring, Levine got two more fines for not putting lids on her trash receptacles, according to OATH records.
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Levine → get → records
Levine never responded to those tickets until the next fall.
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Levine → respond → fall
In a voicemail she left for the administrative court in October 2025, she made at least two references to her status, the CJC said, including, “Hi this is Judge Katherine Levine,” and, “I have trials every day in Supreme Court.”
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I → leave → Court
Levine made the argument several times that she was “a supreme court justice with trials and cannot sit a whole day at OATH for a hearing,” the panel noted.
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panel → make → hearing
“I cannot come down and sit in OATH for 10 hours as I am a trial judge in Supreme Court,” she griped in a missivel from her official judicial email, demanding to settle the $650 balance, which had ballooned from the original $50 ticket because of her failing to appear at past hearings.
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her → come → hearings
Another time, she boasted: “I am a supreme court justice and I vacate default judgments all the time in the name of equity and justice.
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I → boast → equity
OATH told her it doesn’t do settlements — and that she “must follow OATH rules and protocols as everyone must do.”
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everyone → tell → rules
Levine demanded to speak with an OATH supervisor in an email response, closing with an all-caps message: “HOW DO I PAY IT AND HOW MUCH IS IT.”
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IT → demand → IT
Levine, who has sat on the bench since 2008 and had a clean disciplinary record, “openly and repeatedly expressed her remorse and embarrassment” and accepted the CJC’s admonishment.
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who → sit → admonishment
“Further, respondent recognizes that the gratuitous invocation of her judicial title was reasonably perceived at OATH as an attempt for a favorable adjudication of her summonses,” the CJC said.
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CJC → recognize → summonses
Her lawyer, David Godosky, said Levine “regrets that she referenced her position while addressing a frustrating issue with a city agency,” noting that she was “candid and cooperative.”
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she → say → agency
The fines were eventually paid, OATH records show.
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records → pay → ?
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