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Deborah Gross-Quatrone of Saddle Brook is accused of recording two meetings with Assignment Judge Bonnie Mizdol and others in Bergen County, and a third with Mizdol -- after the assignment judge told her not to -- all in 2015, the presentment case says.
"These actions suggest a disturbing lack of sound judgment and professional integrity that, if left unaddressed, threaten the dignity of the judicial office and the public's confidence in the judiciary as an institution worthy of deference," the state's Supreme Court Advisory Committee said.
Gross-Quatrone told investigators her bosses had been verbally abusive and demeaning to her, and made the recordings -- which she initially denied -- because she wasn't allowed to bring a witness to meetings, documents show.
She apparently threatened to call police if a court employee didn't return the recorder and reported it as a theft to sheriffs officers.
The court did not discipline Gross-Quatrone for having her secretary help her son a school project.
In 2017, she filed a gender discrimination and hostile work environment suit against Mizdol in federal court, which says Mizdol made remarks about Gross-Quatrone's attendance and appearance, the New Jersey Law Journal says.
On one occasion, Mizdol made remarks about her "beach hair and flip flops" and another on her "fancy clothes and bare legs," the report says. Mizdol denied wrongdoing, the journal says.
The journal cited a statement from Gross-Quatrone's lawyer:
“Judge Gross Quatrone has had a distinguished career as an attorney and as a judge. She excelled on the bench in Passaic County and in Essex County, winning the praises of her colleagues. The reason there was a problem in this case is because of the way she was inappropriately treated in Bergen County. She looks forward to having her day in court before a jury when the civil case is tried.”
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