Court denies application for relief of Madden assignment; NJSBA ponders next steps

In an eight-page decision, Assignment Judge Deborah Silverman Katz denied an attorney’s application to be excused from his assignment to represent a defendant in a contempt of domestic violence order matter. The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) participated as amicus curiae in support of Michael Haya’s application and urged the court to assign the matter to publicly-funded counsel or to adopt one of the NJSBA’s Right to Counsel Committee’s recommendations to address the right to counsel in New Jersey. The NJSBA’s request was also denied, but Haya was eventually relieved upon the request of the defendant in the underlying matter, who stated his concern that he was being assigned ineffective counsel.