For Immediate Release
January 18, 12:00 P.M.
Contact:
Eugene A. Wrona
1021 N. 10th Street
Whitehall, PA
Tele. (610) 821-1155 -- will change on 1/31/02 to (610) 798-4840
esquirepa@aol.com
A father in a contentious child support proceeding filed a petition for impeachment.
A father filed a petition for the impeachment of a Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas judge with the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives Friday. Farouk Z. Hamoui, a native of Allentown, is seeking the removal of Judge Alan M. Black based on a lengthy list of alleged
judicial misconduct.
Mr. Hamoui's petition alleges many irregularities by the court in
administering his child support case. He contends these irregularities
reach the level of misfeasance and malfeasance in office, and violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which he says are impeachable offenses.
Mr. Hamoui charges Judge Black with using the wrong child support guidelines
in violation of constitutional protections against ex post facto laws; using guidelines that are
unconstitutional under the facts of his case; depriving him of due process in a court where opposing counsel (under Title IV-D) is known to serve as county solicitor in family court matters; depriving him of due process and equal protection of law for lack of notice and for conducting a proceeding where the mother never testified and was never subject to cross-examination; and criminal misconduct.
In alleging that the judge misapplied the support guidelines, Hamoui contends the court included intentional errors in the determination of net incomes. He also alleges the judge displayed prejudice and bias, accepted facts not in evidence, disregarded the rules of evidence for judicial notice of misrepresented facts, and gave the appearance of
impropriety. Finally, Hamoui states the judge engaged in other egregious, arbitrary and capricious rulings contrary to settled law.
In an action unrelated to the impeachment petition, Mr. Hamoui has also challenged the use of Pennsylvania's support guidelines in his case because the amended guidelines have a
disparate impact on the children in second households whenever a custodial parent has a
higher income than the non-custodial parent. The Pennsylvania Court Administrator has yet to respond to this challenge.
Hamoui contends that Judge Black wrongfully deprived him of every opportunity to legally discover meaningful facts which would have demonstrated to the court that he and the custodial mother are not similarly situated with respect to their children, which he contends would have altered the outcome of his case.
The criminal misconduct accusations arise from the alleged alteration of audio tapes of
hearings. When these discrepancies in the record were presented to the court, Judge Black
removed himself from the case.
Hamoui says that in pursuing fair treatment from the court, issues were raised that brought into question the integrity of the judge and his fitness for office.
Hamoui also says that the record clearly shows multiple violations of Pennsylvania's Code of Judicial Conduct, including the later act of reinstating himself as judge in the case. Violating the Code of Judicial Conduct is sufficient for removal from office according to well
established Pennsylvania case law, Hamoui reminds those who care about societal justice.
