Judge Donald "Chick" Foret's use of salty or biased language in several judicial settings warrants a "public censure," according to the Louisiana Judiciary Commission.
The commission issued its recommendation Friday to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which is the ultimate arbiter of discipline for state judges.
The commission found that Foret, a former TV news legal analyst before he won a seat on the state bench in Gretna in 2020, violated eight judicial canons over several reported outbursts in his first year on the 24th Judicial District Court.
Among them: Foret lost his temper and allegedly swore at his criminal clerk during an emotional trial. He's also accused of refusing to recuse himself after expressing bias in a civil case against nursing home owner Bob Dean over the botched evacuation of seven facilities during Hurricane Ida.
In that instance, Foret cut loose his personal sentiments against a local attorney, Jason Baer, during a bench conference at which he described Baer to other lawyers as a “piece of s**t”. An ad hoc judge found that Foret could remain on the case, but a state appeals court disagreed and tossed him from it.
In yet another incident, Foret is accused of weighing in for one side in civil settlement talks, instructing one lawyer to tell another to “go f**k himself” if he didn’t raise his client’s offer.
To the commission in December, Foret described the complaints lodged against him mostly as a product of an intense work ethic, an old-school penchant for profanity and mistakenly bringing a lawyer’s mentality to the job of a jurist.
A former state and federal prosecutor, Foret insisted that he’d cleaned up his act in the more than two years since the incidents that drew complaints. He said he's sought counsel from a priest and a veteran retired judge, Dennis Waldron.
“I know what mistakes I’ve made," Foret said then. "As clear as I can hear the calliope on the Mississippi River, that’s the clarity I have in my life. I’m not perfect.”
The commission, however, found by "clear and convincing" evidence that Foret had crossed several ethical lines.
It cited a "pattern of inappropriate judicial demeanor and comments indicating bias as well as his failure to recuse himself on a matter after questioning his own ability to be impartial."
Foret's attorney, Gus Fritchie, issued a statement on Monday.
"Judge Foret is pleased that the (commission) concluded that he is a strongly driven, hard-working, and extremely passionate judge who is widely seen as exceptionally well-prepared, conversant about the specific details of each case, having a good heart, and striving to do the right thing by the parties and attorneys in his court," it read.
"Judge Foret also appreciates the fact that the (commission) specifically found that there was no evidence that he exploited his position as a judge to satisfy his own personal desires, rather that, at most, some of Judge Foret’s conduct appeared to result of his frustration or anger when others did not meet his personal standards."
The Louisiana Supreme Court has not yet set a hearing over the commission's findings. A public censure is near the low end of a spectrum of possible discipline for judges available to the court, up to removal from the bench.
The court last suspended a judge last year, when it benched Judge Vercell Fiffie of St. John the Baptist Parish for three months for ignoring court orders and failing to sign warrants.
