ExclusiveDeadbeat ex-judge gets break in court
BY NANCIE L. KATZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, May 7th 2007,
A Manhattan judge dropped her arrest warrant last week against a deadbeat dad who owes $250,000 in child support because the father - a former judge himself - said he was poor and depressed.Justice Joan Lobis' decision, just a month after approving the warrant, enraged the ex-wife of disgraced former jurist Reynold Mason."There is no justice! There are no laws!" fumed Tessa Abrams Mason, who has had to raise three kids without her ex-husband's help and now faces eviction from her Long Island home. "He knows how to work the system, and she's letting him do it. She's failing my kids."Lobis refused to explain her actions to the Daily News.Mason, now a real estate agent in Georgia, said in court papers that he had declared bankruptcy and become depressed after he was kicked off the bench in 2003 for dipping into a legal client's escrow account."All of my resources and energy were given to coping with the shock of the life-altering events swirling around me," Mason whined.He claimed he earned $68,000 over two years selling real estate - far less than his $136,700 annual salary as the first Caribbean-born state Supreme Court justice.That prompted Lobis to revoke the warrant Wednesday, ordering him instead to post $150,000 bond.
Lobis was far more harsh the following day - ordering sheriffs to her courtroom in an unrelated case to arrest a mom who owed $5,000 in child support. The woman dodged jail by borrowing the cash.nkatz@nydailynews.com
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