Father's Day Fiasco

Mom gets kid back after each arrest

Photo by David Greene

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 13- His tour of duty in the Navy, battling the forces of former Libyan dictator Moammar Khahadafi, was a cakewalk compared to the eight-year battle he has endured in the family court system.

According to Tremont resident James Sterling, his custody battle for his eight-year-old son Justin began when the child was still an infant and has outlasted four judges and two buildings-- but for Sterling there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The single father was expecting to finally get his day in Brooklyn Family Court on June 6.

Sterling, 49, offers proof in the form of three separate police reports where the mother was arrested for violating an order of protection on three occasions. In the most serious incident, Sterling claims the mother attacked him as he drove the mother and child in the family car.

In that incident the mother was charged by police with assault in the third degree, attempted assault, menacing, reckless endangerment, criminal contempt, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child. The mother was released and has since had custody of the boy.

Ironically, the judge who oversaw the criminal cases and passed them off to family court limbo, but Justice Suzanne Mondo recently criticized another judge, when she wrote in a court decision, that the other judge caused, "hundreds of adjournments that waste hundreds of hours of court resources."

The father, who has had a handful of court-appointed visits with his son over the years, but has missed key moments of his young son's life, like his first words and first steps, asks, "If a man did this, would he have the child for another second?"

Sterling continued, "Every time she gets arrested, she gets out and she's right back with our son."

Despite his maturity and military experience, Sterling says, "Yet I could not navigate the family court system. The family court system should be family-friendly."

Sterling adds, "If I'm 49 and it's driving me crazy, what would it do to a nice, young college man? It would tear him up at the beginning of his life."

According to attorney Joseph Cordell, co-founder of the law firm Cordell and Cordell, a firm that specializes in defending men in such cases, says of the double-standard, "It's not a theme that anyone has been willing to give much attention too, but it is a Civil rights issue."

Cordell explained, "There has been significant progress in the last 20 years that I have been doing this, but it's by no means a level playing field." The attorney continued, "I think it (the problem) is widespread. I think it exists in every state, just not in every courtroom."

"There's no momentum," Cordell says, "legislatively or judicially to tackle this phenomenon."

Cordell, who has made defending men in such cases his, "mission," since he began practicing law in 1990, is one of three attorneys at his firm currently putting together an article on the subject that will discuss the many problems and possible solutions to this complex issue. They expect the paper to be ready in about another month and will submit it to the many different law journals.

Fellow Bronxite, Roberto Figueroa, 42, whose own bitter custody battle for his two children in the Bronx, lasted 5-years, says of Sterling's case, "If the roles were reversed, they would have settled it in criminal court ... like they did with me."

"I'm the one that walked away," Figueroa explains that he withdrew his petition in 2008, adding, “Every time I visited my kids there was another ACS case. I walked away because of what it was doing to my kids. I can't even talk about it because it's so sad."

Cordell, whose firm has offices in 25-plus cities, said of Sterling's 8-years in legal-limbo, "It's a travesty at 2 to 3 years and 8-years is beyond discussion."

Calls to Sterling's ex went unanswered. Calls to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office to learn why the criminal cases were moved to family court, were not returned.

Sterling was asked if he is granted an afternoon to be with his son, what would they do, he replied, "I'd like to take him horseback riding or roller skating and just get to know him better."  

Forty-eight hours before he was due in court, Sterling received a call telling him that the case had once again been postponed until October or November, the reason this time is because a court ordered visit between father and son, had not been granted.

Sterling said after learning the news, "They had marked this case, "Final," on about seven occasions and I just want it to go to trial.

So the battle in legal limbo continues.