Broward Judge Laura Watson fights JQC for her job

April 28--Broward Circuit Judge Laura Watson is fighting back against the state's Judicial Qualifications Commission, asking the state Supreme Court to block the body's attempt to have her removed from office.

Watson has filed a lawsuit accusing the JQC of acting outside its authority when it called for her removal for alleged misconduct that took place eight years before she became a judge. Her lawsuit chides the JQC for bringing "a disciplinary action against a justice or judge without an allegation of judicial misconduct either in office, as a candidate for office, or after being elected and waiting to be sworn in."

Earlier this month, the JQC asked the Supreme Court to remove Watson from office after finding she negotiated a settlement in a civil suit that froze out co-counsel on related cases and deprived her clients of the opportunity to seek further compensation from an insurance company.

The lawyers sued Watson's firm and won after years of legal wrangling and appeals. When the dust settled from the lawsuit, the Florida Bar began looking into whether Watson's conduct warranted her removal from the legal profession.

The Bar's grievance committee found probable cause to proceed with a case against Watson in October 2012, but she was elected to the bench a month later. The Bar does not have the authority to sanction judges, so the complaint was forwarded to the JQC.

Kerry Evander, a judge on the 5th District Court of Appeal, oversaw a JQC panel hearing on the complaint against Watson in the Broward courthouse in February. The panel's recommendation to remove Watson from office was released April 15.

In that ruling, Evander defended the JQC's right to hear and rule on the issue. "JQC proceedings are constitutionally authorized for the alleged misconduct of a judge during the time she was a lawyer," Evander wrote. "There is thus no 'escape to the bench' for lawyers who violate the rules regulating the Florida Bar."

But in her lawsuit, Watson is asking the Supreme Court to say Evander was wrong. "The JQC acts in clear absence of all jurisdiction and is using its public office to launch an impermissible post-election challenge to Judge Watson's judicial race," her attorneys wrote.

Because the circumstances deal with the results of an election, Watson is also asking the state Supreme Court to punt the case to the federal court system.

The Florida Bar, meanwhile, has asked the state Supreme Court to temporarily suspend Watson's license to practice law if she is removed from office.

Calls to Watson's office and to her attorney, Robert Sweetapple, were not immediately returned Monday.

raolmeda@tribune.com, 954-356-4457, Twitter @SSCourts

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