Oakland Co. district court judge removed from hearing criminal cases
An Oakland County district court judge has been removed from hearing felony and misdemeanor criminal cases.
Troy's 52-4 District Court Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig was removed from her criminal caseload effective May 27 following a Friday administrative order from Travis Reeds, chief judge of 52nd District Court.
Judge Maureen McGinnis will handle all criminal cases in 52-4 District Court. Hartig will handle general civil, landlord-tenant and small claims actions.
Neither Hartig nor Reeds responded for comment Monday.
A former Troy district court administrator filed a lawsuit in March 2022 claiming Hartig mistreated court staff and the public and alleging she was fired after she began keeping track of the mistreatment. The former administrator, Dana O'Neal, sued former 52nd District Court Chief Judge Joseph Fabrizio, not Hartig. The case was settled outside of court in 2023.
In August of 2018, Hartig brought O'Neal into an open court, "where she accused her of mismanaging grant funding,” and O'Neal said she was humiliated before a courtroom full of people, according to the lawsuit.
Fabrizio admonished Hartig for her behavior and referred O'Neal to human resources, which, according to the lawsuit, conducted an investigation and concluded a “hostile work environment existed.”
The state Judicial Tenure Commission opened an investigation in July 2020, according to the lawsuit. The result was unclear, as the commission never made the complaint public and it does not acknowledge the existence of nonpublic complaints. Hartig has never been publicly cited by the commission, which investigates judicial misconduct.
Hartig was first elected in 2010 and was reelected in 2016 and 2022.
kberg@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Oakland Co. district court judge removed from hearing criminal cases
