Amy O'Connor
Amy O'Connor was a judge on the Superior Court's Appellate Division in New Jersey. She was appointed in December 2013.[1] She retired August 30, 2019.[2]
Education
O'Connor received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Seton Hall University.[3] She also earned an LL.M from New York University School of Law.[4]
Career
O'Connor was a judge of the Vicinage 13 Superior Court from 1998 until 2013, when she was elevated to the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division. Prior to joining the bench, she worked as an attorney for Conway & Reiseman and later Mulligan & Mulligan. To start her legal career, she was a law clerk for Superior Court Judge Michael R. Imbriani.[4]
Awards and associations
Associations
- 1995-1998: Member, District XIII Fee Arbitration Committee
- 1997-1998: Vice-chair, District XIII Fee Arbitration Committee
- 1997-1998: President, Warren County Bar Association[4]
Noteworthy cases
Lawyer faces $150,000 judgment because client skipped bond (2015)
Matthew Jeon took on Zerui Huang's case. Huang, a Chinese national studying in the United States, was arrested and charged with a sexual assault. He was given bond, but he had to surrender his passport in order to be released. Huang did so. The court held the passport until it agreed to return it to Huang temporarily so he could renew his driver's license. While Huang had the passport, he allegedly made a copy and then returned the original to the court. Huang used the copy, which China accepts, to return to his native land. When he did not make his next court appearance, or the subsequent ones, the bail bond company, Callahan Bail Bond, sued Jeon for the money it lost when Huang skipped town. Callahan claims that Jeon knew what Huang had planned. Jeon failed to respond to Callahan's complaint in time, and Judge Susan J. Steele of the Vicinage 2 Superior Court entered a default judgment against Jeon in the amount of $150,000, what Callahan lost.
Jeon eventually tried to respond and filed multiple motions to vacate the judgment, but Judge Steele denied the motion each time. Judges Amy O'Connor and Marie Simonelli, however, ruled that Judge Steele was in error when she refused to grant Jeon's motion to vacate. According to the judges, motions to vacate are to be considered liberally and granted if there is a meritorious defense to the accusations. Here, the judges said that Jeon presented a good defense in his answer, which he was never allowed to file, and he did not behave in an insolent manner in failing to respond. In short, it was a mistake.
The judges vacated the judgment and remanded the case back to the superior court for further proceedings on the merits of the case. Huang is still a fugitive.
Articles:
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Legigh Valley Live, "New Jersey Superior Court Judge Amy O'Connor elevated to appellate division," December 16, 2013
- ↑ Sara Reynolds, "Phone communication with Appellate Division Clerk's Office," November 1, 2019
- ↑ Martindale.com, "Amy C.D. O'Connor"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hunterdon County News, "Superior Court Judge Amy O'Connor Elevated to Appellate Division hunterdon vicniage down another judge," December 6, 2013
Federal courts:
Third Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Jersey • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Jersey
State courts:
New Jersey Supreme Court • New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division • New Jersey Superior Courts • New Jersey Municipal Courts • New Jersey Tax Court
State resources:
Courts in New Jersey • New Jersey judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Jersey
