Thomas E Stevens

This judge must not have been paying attention, or he did not want to overturn a fellow superior court judge's decision. Presiding in the Appellate Division, he and his two fellow judges failed to properly calculate the effect of tolling on a statute of limitations period, an easy calculation. Thus, they stated an erroneous limitations deadline date, the central issue in the appeal. Then, they completely omitted from the written decision how they arrived at this conclusion. A written decision that omits reasoning is useless, except as an attempt by a judge to escape accountability.

So you know that I am not merely a disgruntled litigant, I'll give you the facts for you to decide for yourself. Judge Stevens presided over a limited jurisdiction appeal of mine. The opinion falsely stated the statute of limitations and was contrary to law. At issue in my case was whether I filed within the statute of limitations. The decision stated that my cause of action had accrued on July 7, 2019, with a one year statute of limitations, which was tolled from April 6 to October 1, 2020 under Emergency Rule 9 due to Covid. All truthfully stated in the opinion. The limitations period does not run during the period of tolling. Do the math. The statute of limitations deadline, after applying tolling, was January 4, 2021. The appellate division (Thomas Stevens, Tara Desautels, and Jason Clay) inexplicably held that it was October 1, 2020. Since I filed in December 2020, I lost.