Columnist Sandra Thompson: Woman takes her case against judge to court

A LAS VEGAS woman has filed a federal lawsuit against a Family Court judge and others she says violated her civil rights in a protracted custody dispute.

Jody Bedwell says this is not a lawsuit "against what they've done, but for what they haven't done. They failed to uphold my civil rights and give me due process."

In March, Judge Steve Jones ordered Bedwell to jail for contempt of court. When she tried to explain her side of the story, she said he told her to sit down.

The Nevada Supreme Court granted Bedwell's request for an immediate stay, and she was ordered released from jail.

That experience, on top of going to court every other month for the last six years, has caused her emotional trauma and health problems, she says. She now has a heart ailment because of all the stress.

"I didn't want to file this (the suit), but they pushed me to the wall," Bedwell says.

She has spent $100,000 over the years fighting continual motions filed by her ex-boyfriend, who is the father of her 8-year-old son. She has lost time from work going to hearings. The last straw was being held in contempt because she took her son out of school a few hours early for a holiday and for not being able to produce one or two receipts proving the time she dropped off her son for visitation.

Yet, she says, her son's father had taken him -- without her knowledge -- out of state for a trip. He was never found in contempt of court. She says throughout the six-year battle, the judge has been biased against her.

She adds that a short time after the Supreme Court ordered her released from jail, Jones wrote an order -- "without anyone there" -- saying the child should be evaluated by a particular psychologist to determine if Bedwell is alienating him against his father. Bedwell says the judge then set a hearing for this week to consider a possible change in custody. Generally custody is changed only if there is a serious change in circumstances.

Bedwell says she has told the court several times that she would take her son to anyone else but this particular psychologist because of perceived bias. Yet the judge selected the psychologist.

The psychologist also is named in the suit.

Bedwell says the psychologist recently asked her son if he knew why his mother had been sent to jail. He replied that it was because "the judge made a mistake."

"She (the psychologist) told my son that the judge did not make a mistake. She said 'the judge knows what's best for you, not your Mom. Your Mommy lied and she made a mistake.'

"That's a terrible thing to tell a child," Bedwell says.

Typically what happens in cases like this is that a judge will recuse himself. According to the judicial conduct canons, a judge may disqualify himself in cases where his impartiality may be questioned. Also, a litigant can file a motion to disqualify, which the presiding Family Court judge would hear.

Bedwell says that throughout her six-year case, she has filed everything she was required and tried to answer every motion filed by her son's father. But he is continually allowed to harass her and her attorney through the courts, she says.

Filing suit is the only way to get people's attention that something is wrong here, Bedwell says.

"We're not money-hungry people. We just want this to end."

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The new Legal Self-Help Center will open Monday at Family Court on the first floor near the clerk's office.

Empowered by the District Court judges and the County Commission, an advisory committee created the center for litigants who can't afford attorneys and must represent themselves in Family Court.

The center will provide information on procedures and what forms need to be filed. The staff will not provide legal advice, but they will help litigants to better navigate the Family Court maze.

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