Hon. Denis Butler See Rating Details

Supreme Court (Civil)
Queens County
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Attorney Average Rating:   2.1 - 33 rating(s)
Non-Attorney Average Rating:   3.0 - 8 rating(s)
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Only items marked with (*) are averaged into the displayed overall rating.


General Rating Criteria

* Temperament (1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Scholarship (1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Industriousness (1=Not at all industrious,10=Highly industrious)
* Ability to Handle Complex Litigation (1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Punctuality (1=Chronically Late,10=Always on Time)
* General Ability to Handle Pre-Trial Matters (1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
* General Ability as a Trial Judge (1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
Flexibility In Scheduling (1=Completely Inflexible,10=Very Flexible)


Criminal Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Criminal Litigation (1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
General Inclination Regarding Bail (1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
Involvement in Plea Discussions (1=Not at all Involved, 10=Very Involved)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Pretrial Stage (1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Trial Stage (1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Sentencing Stage (1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)


Civil Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Civil Litigation (1=Not at all Evenhanded,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
Involvement in Settlement Discussions (1=Not at all Involved,10=Very Involved)
General Inclination (1=Pro-defendant, 10=Pro-plaintiff)
Comments


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What others have said about Hon. Denis Butler


Comments


Litigant

Comment #: NY12123
Rating:1.0
Comments:
Butler failed to appear, failed to have a court reporter, failed to acknowledge my REPLY properly submitted, and failed to follow federal law - he violated the ADA, Title II twice with utter disregard for law and human rights.

Other

Comment #: NY11765
Rating:1.0
Comments:
This judge does not even appear for oral argument. He has his law clerk conference with no court reporter -thus no record. ADA, Title II accommodations are unknown in this court - shocking and a dangerous precedent. Paper are not red nor addressed by the judge. What is going on here?

Civil Litigation - Govt.

Comment #: NY11679
Rating:1.0
Comments:
He is an extremely angry judge and somewhat incompetent. The only good thing is that he yelled at both plaintiff and defense counsels. His sidebars were audible to the jury. He delayed my trial and then blamed counsels. He spoke terribly about other judges. He does not strike me as a person who enjoys being a judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11670
Rating:2.0
Comments:
I never saw such incompetence, failure to act judiciously, failure to address both sides, improperly has his law clerk do his work in the courtroom instead of acting like a judge. F-

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11263
Rating:1.6
Comments:
Bat-shit crazy. Angry human being. Obvious favoritism on prominent display. Unable to focus his thoughts for more than a few seconds. Uneven-handed, bitter, impatient, rude, disrespectful, arrogant. Unbecoming of a State Supreme Court jurist. How I wish OCA would read and act on these consistently uniform reviews.

Other

Comment #: NY11097
Rating:10.0
Comments:
Judge Butler has served honorably and is a fair and reasoned judge in a very challenging city

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11082
Rating:1.3
Comments:
A total disgrace and should not be on the bench.
He's a typical political hack who never worked as an attorney on the outside, was a law secretary and then made it on the bench.
Ill-tempered, legally incompetent, demeaning and tries to bully people. He's on a total power trip!
Check the complaints made about him over the past 10 years.
I say, "ditto".

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10911
Rating:1.0
Comments:
This guy has serious mental-health problems. He should not be a judge. I cannot believe he has not been disciplined and removed as a judge yet. Mark my words, it will happen!

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10791
Rating:1.0
Comments:
An absolute disgrace to the bench. Violently ill-tempered, legally incompetent, demeaning and sexist. Constantly dressing down attorneys, screaming at the top of his lungs, commenting about women's appearances (weight, age and manner of dress)... he has only become emboldened with time and his behavior is increasingly outrageous. This man needs a professional mental health assessment and should be removed from the bench.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10772
Rating:2.6
Comments:
Utterly ridiculous in handling of the simplest issues. Wastes time dressing down attorneys for not following his rules or listening to his instructions by repeating himself all morning.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY10642
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Has SEVERE anger issues. Extremely short-tempered, condescending and rude. Please, Your Honor, get help.

Court Staff

Comment #: NY9975
Rating:1.0
Comments:
He's crazy as a loon and has a reputation for stealing furniture around the court house.

Other

Comment #: NY9783
Rating:8.0
Comments:
I have no specific opinion about Justice Butler. I have never had a serious problem with his courtroom. Being a judge can be difficult, sometimes good calls are made, sometimes bad ones occur. It would be beyond my ken to qualify or quantify this judge's performance, other than to say I saw "reasonable" performance.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY9603
Rating:1.1
Comments:
If you were to poll 100 random attorneys and 100 random non-attorneys and ask what are the expected characteristics of a good judge, the Hon. Denis Butler would, no doubt, possess none of them. I cannot opine as to his abilities as a practicing attorney because, I understand, he has never practiced law. If I had to give a positive comment, it would have to be that after his father got him the party's nomination for judge (Civil Court and Supreme) he was smart enough not to have lost it.

Other

Comment #: NY9357
Rating:1.0
Comments:
Erratic and inefficient.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY8206
Rating:1.1
Comments:
By far the most sexist judge that I've ever come across. Referred to trial counsel in a high pitched voice, refused to go on the record, and made remarks in chambers about trial counsel's physical appearance. Horrendous, tragically unintelligent, and a great example of why people who have never practiced should not be judges.

Other

Comment #: NY8166
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
I wholly want to stress the positive when applicable, but when there are failures of large proportion, one must speak out.

Starting with positive, in a mortgage foreclosure case, the judge granted foreclosure and sale in the absence of jurisdiction. However, once this was pointed out, he vacated everything appropriately. There is much political pressure from creditors on judges nationwide to deliver up
the security, so it is commendable he did the right
thing and I applaud it. The bank attorneys
deceived the judge, in the presence of a poor
defense job. Again, he is commended.

However, the judge as emergency judge (many
judges hate this rotating assignment), on another unrelated case, he did something unconscionable.
My clients, Punjabi Sikhs, were removed from the court. Then, after about 40 minutes, while the judge was juggling 7 other cases, he had the clerk deny an emergency application. The clerk gave it to my adversary, while another lawyer and I were not present. The papers we submitted were extensive inclusive of a memorandum of law. I saw the same handwiriting AND THE SAME WORDS on another emergency case he denied (i.e., a script). In the time my clients appeared, the judge denied FOUR emergency motions at least, while juggling a full foreclosure calendar. While one has sympathies for a jurist working too hard, there is no excuse for denying an emergency application in the absence of reading the papers. It was absolutely unaccepatable.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY6800
Rating:1.0
Comments:
This guy is beyond crazy. He is nuts, stupid, lazy and unpredictable. He should be taken off the bench.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY5971
Rating:1.7
Comments:
The lack of professionalism is profound.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY5954
Rating:9.7
Comments:
He is a gentleman, a standup guy. If you are courteous to him it will be reciprocated. He will bend over backward to accommodate attorneys. I thoroughly enjoyed trying a case before him.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY5754
Rating:2.5
Comments:
He is arrogant, demeaning and very disrespectful to counsel. Always an unpleasant experience arguing a motion before him.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY5223
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
He is just a disgrace to the bench.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY5159
Rating:2.3
Comments:
I had a motion for summary judgment on a claim for a violation of Labor Law 240(1) denied where a client fell three stories from a scaffold collapse and sustained a compound femur fracture. Judge Butler denied the motion on the grounds that an issue of fact existed as to whether the plaintiff's accident was a gravity-related occurrence.

Court Staff

Comment #: NY5068
Rating:1.0
Comments:
Judge Denis Butler flies off the handle with regularity, and has a tendency to make patently untrue statements. He has claimed that he could be sued for decisions, and has told several lawyers that all law clerks are "on the take." He yells at his colleagues and staff, and sorely needs some practice in anger management. The only reason that Judge Butler has his job is because his father was a reasonable, well-respected member of the Democratic Party.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY4404
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
He is ok for about 15 minutes. Then he loses it. I dread ever going in his part. His law secretary is a great guy. Deal with him whenever possible.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3905
Rating:3.6
Comments:
He means well. He does care. The problem, however, and this a big ne, is his temper. He flies off the handle over nothing. He is very very reluctant to make a ruling. His courtroom staff and law clerk are terrific, but be very careful. when you are in front of him. Read his rules e second you are assigned, follow them, to the letter, know what you are talking about, do not bs him, give in when you know you are likely wrong or pushing the envelope...it will make a very tough situation much easier. Good luck! You will need it. Again, however, unlike many others in that building, he does care.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3655
Rating:1.4
Comments:
his entire work experience was as law clerks to sitting judges. anyone who wants to be a trial level judge should be required to have some experience as a practicing lawyer first. you cannot learn and appreciate the pressure on a practitioner through osmosis.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3431
Rating:1.0
Comments:
The fact that this man is a judge is a travesty. He spoke to me like he was a deity. This man is essentially a caricature of a dirty judge. He called me up to the bench on the premise that he didn't want to "embarrass" me and then proceeded to tell me that he knew opposing counsel well, that opposing counsel was an excellent man and attorney, and that he believed anything opposing counsel said and therefore so should I. Thanks for letting me know who's side you're on! Then he deferred judgment on my request to the Court...to opposing counsel. It was a sad and public display of judicial bias. Rude, arrogant, and openly biased - he should not be on the bench!

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3314
Rating:2.0
Comments:
Justice Butler is fast on the track to be more notorious than Hart and Ritholtz combined. He is short on patience and quick on temper. He loves being a Judge and expects all the honors and courtesies that traditionally go with that but without returning any respect to the attorneys that grace his courtroom. He has no concern of attorneys time and often keeps attorneys unnecessary long in his court room. Sometimes he acts like he's your friend or he is doing you a favor, but more often then not you get stuck in his courtroom for hours; and if you dare leave, you will get a mouthful when you return.

Litigant

Comment #: NY3189
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
OVER ALL A VERY BAD PERSON

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3165
Rating:1.0
Comments:
A horrible human being. He acts like the whole world owes him. He ignors the law, do whatever he pleases on the bench. He is truely a disgrace to the Judicial system.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY2979
Rating:1.5
Comments:
An utter embarrassment to the bar and to the bench. Completely disrespectful to counsel and litigants. In one calendar call I saw him berate an attorney covering for another attorney due to a death in his family. Butler did not care and directed that the grieving attorney appear that morning. He wasted 10 minutes belittling an attorney who missed the first calendar call and another 15 minutes attacking a pro se for not using exhibit tabs in her papers (as per his rules).

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY2917
Rating:1.3
Comments:
This man is a disgrace to the practice of law. He is unashamedly biased, disrespectful and he bias and judgment is so skewed [redacted]. I am embarrassed that a man like this who disrespects counsel and defendants is actually on the bench. [redacted]

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY2674
Rating:1.0
Comments:
horrible all around

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY2319
Rating:1.0
Comments:
This Judge has a terrible demeanor which he uses to cover up his lack of knowledge of the law. He has no patience, treats attorneys with no respect, does not listen and even refused to go on the record when I asked him to make a record of an improper ruling he was going to make. He even refused to let me explain why he was wrong and basically threatened me. In one word, he is unfit.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY1866
Rating:1.0
Comments:
This guy is just bad news. He will belittle you, lie on the record about off the record conversation and go after you for no reason. The trick to dealing with this guy, I think, is to stand up to him and make sure you have a court reporter there at all times. He will threaten to make grievances and to do other nasty things to attorneys. Butler will back down when he is forced to. Brute force and an even temperament is what works with this guy.

He has no business being on the bench, and I wish OCA would do something about it. But this is the same OCA that let Justice Diane Lebedeff retire at a Supreme Court Justice's salary after her shameful ethical decisions that were made in New York Supreme.

Queens has some really great judges. Agate, Taylor, Elliot, Golia (both), Markey, Strauss, Siegel, to give you some examples.

This guy is an example of why we need a merit system for Supreme Court Justices.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY1547
Rating:1.8
Comments:
This Justice is not shy about expressing his own personal bias in the courtroom. He actually told one attorney that she should drop her case, because he knows the other attorney, and the attorney has been "voluntarily dismissing cases" if they "don't have a leg to stand on." Maybe the judge should look at the law laid out in the defendant's papers, before making such a determination. It seems like he would rather get rid of a case than rule on the merits, or bother knowing the law.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY1290
Rating:4.8
Comments:
This Justice's motion calendar is a disaster. We waited one day until 1:30 for a 9:30 calendar call and then we were told we could come back in an hour or the motion had to be adjourned. All this for a SJ motion that both sides agreed to have submitted for a decision. Basically wasted an entire day for nothing.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY1244
Rating:2.8
Comments:
He has the extremely strange procedure of accepting only the moving papers on motions. He actually reads them; the problem being that the movant gets to says anything he wants and to frame every issue. Belittles counsel who are operating in good faith. A terrible judge for a young lawyer.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY1208
Rating:2.3
Comments:
I appeared before this guy on a matter involving a Chinese defendant who demanded a translator.

On trial day, Butler instructed all counsel that we were on for trial and we were not to leave the courtroom. I went between the double exit doors to phone my office that I was proceeding to trial. Butler reprimanded me on the record at the start of the case for leaving the courtroom against his orders.

My client, the plaintiff, was upset that I was being reprimanded on his case.

Butler gave every advantage to the pro se Chinese defendant with translator. Butler delayed start of trial to allow the translator to arrive. When Butler learned during testimony from the defendant that he had a PhD in biology from a London based University and was fluent in English, Butler did not let up on giving advantages to the defendant.

Butler has no idea how to respond to objections practice.

When it was time to adjourn the trial, Butler refused to take into account my available dates. I had to hire substitute counsel to cover cases I otherwise would have been able to cover.

You want to practice in front of this?

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY621
Rating:1.3
Comments:
Without a doubt, this man is not fit to be on the bench. Mean, arrogant and stupid are the first words that come to mind. He should be arbitrating disputes in a biker bar, not a court of law.
He lies on the record about off-the-record discussions. He just makes stuff up. I was fortunate that my case settled for the policy limits after opening statement. Neither my opponent nor I wanted to litigate before this judge.

Court Staff

Comment #: NY619
Rating:1.0
Comments:
Many individuals have expressed to me that this judge is desperately in need of psychiatric help. I concur.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY375
Rating:9.0
Comments:
I've won in front of him and lost in front of him, but either way I've always gotten a fair deal. You win or lose based on the merits of your case. He is always impartial.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY137
Rating:1.0
Comments:
Insulting, disrespectful and belittiling to everyone who appears before him. A disgrace to the bench