"The Robing Room: NY State Judges

Hon. Diccia T. Pineda-Kirwan	See Rating Details
Supreme Court
Queens County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 2.2 - 27 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: - 0 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

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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. Diccia T. Pineda-Kirwan

Comments

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY13172
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Very ill prepared on day motion ad cross-motion were being argued. She really had no idea what the motions were all about. Nasty, irrational and VERY pro-defendant.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY13023
Rating:1.4

Comments:
Horrible demeanor, rude to attorneys

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY12293
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge was censured for her abusive behavior in 2019 and she has not changed. She is short-tempered and easily distracted from the issues. No involvement at all in an ADR conference. Asked more questions about pictures on the wall then the case.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY12288
Rating:9.7

Comments:
I found this judge as a nassau county supreme court judge to be reliable, courteous, and direct as far as her rules. She is flexible and I am looking forward to our upcoming trial.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY12145
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Dumb, and I mean really dumb. Abusive, irrational, lazy and those are her good points!

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY12109
Rating:1.0

Comments:
What can I ad that hasn't already been said? Yes. It is all true! The attorneys will survive, but injured litigants seeking a judge with a minimum baseline of intelligence, an average amount of diligence, and the fortitude to issue a ruling on the law no matter the consequences will suffer. And they do, immeasurably. If she listened to her legal secretaries and delegated everything, the part would function adequately. As it is now, it is totally intolerable. And the sad part is, when she chats with you about the usual sidebar BS, she is not unlikable.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11931
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
https://queenseagle.com/all/ex-queens-judge-harassed-staff-and-attorneys-state-commission-finds

Need I say more...

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11930
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I haven't had the "pleasure of appearing before her in Nassau County, but I have a lot of experience before her in Queens. She works harder than anybody I know to avoid working. She browbeats attorneys in an attempt to force settlements. She has no regard for lawyers and keeps attorneys in court for inordinately long period of time. Her rulings are erratic and unsupported in fact or law. Her sense of entitlement is astounding.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11891
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This jurist sets a new standard - a nadir - for every element of judicial conduct. Her approach to discovery defies reason and manages to create controversy even where the parties have achieved consensus. Actually, her utter lack of intelligence, ability, insight, or fundamental fairness sometimes helps resolve disputes, simply because anyone who has ever been before D.P.-K. knows without utter certainty that any request for judicial intervention on any subject will create myriad problems for everyone. D.P.-K.'s approach to her calendar, especially, demonstrates such utter contempt for attorneys that one can only conclude that she has genuine disdain for the overall process and the law in general. Someone in the OCA need to sit in on her part: the negativity embedded in the 1-star comments posted here are both accurate and candid assessments of this horrible travesty of a judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11870
Rating:3.1

Comments:
This Judge is now in Nassau County. She has basic legal knowledge, but lacks common sense and does not seem to care about the nature of the case or the litigants Her rulings lack foundation.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11191
Rating:1.5

Comments:
Her decisions defy logic and precedent. Her temperament is unfit for the bench. She is erratic, asinine, and ill-tempered, resonant of the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. I often sit in her courtroom silently, waiting to hear her utter "Off with her head!" This woman is dangerous. Just be prepared to make your record for appeal.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY11061
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Horrible! In Nassau County now and handling motion part and not handling it well. Supposedly, there is a calendar call but it merely involves calling each motion and spending 5 mins discussing everything from the motion to personal lives of the attorneys and the judge. You will be waiting all day.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10759
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Worst Judge....ever. I was excited when I didn't see her name listed in the LIC courthouse but unfortunately found out she was moved to Nassau. She needs to be removed.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10564
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Not sure why this person ever wanted to be a judge. She was moved from Queens to Kings and has since been moved to Nassau (Jan 2019), where she spews her unique brand of "justice" on lawyers unfortunate enough to be assigned to her part. She really should be removed from the bench or at least placed in a position where she does not make ANY decisions that affect the lives of lawyers and litigants, although I am not sure that there is such a position.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10397
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Horrible, horrible, horrible. Lawyers beware. She should not be on the bench. Those comments with 1 star are absolutely correct.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY10390
Rating:1.1

Comments:
So many complaints about ONE judge. A prime example of the failure of blind diversity to achieve political ends, but clearly not the last. This person was in the first class of CUNY law school when it had no intention of teaching anyone the law. And it shows. Flash forward many years later, and you have the same lack of knowledge, and the same outrageously result-oriented behavior. The history of forcing settlements at any cost, by making litigants wait for hours until they finally get the hint and reach an agreement has not changed. The ruthless desire to avoid the 60-day rule by herself and her 2 witless law clerks, has not changed. The clerks are always male, so she has a supply of eye candy to fuel the results of of socially inept, multi-divorced conduct. The latest rumor is that she is being transferred out of Queens to another county due to her horrendous conduct. I think that says it.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10308
Rating:10.0

Comments:
I recently experienced a week long trial with this extremely competent Judge and my experience was completely different from the negative comments on this site. From beginning to end she was even handed, respectful of both the attorneys and the jury; in effect, she lets you try your case without favoring one side or the other. She ruled on objections, considered the law, put together a reasonable charge, while gently trying to settle the case. In fact, this was one of the rare trials I have seen where we didn't lose a single juror or alternate, primarily in part because this judge works the whole day and moves the case along. She is really a testament to the bench. If you are prepared and ready to try your case Judge Pineda-Kirwan is a great assignment!

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY10297
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Lazy, do-nothing hack. Did I mention lazy? Sits on papers forever. Her "rules" are all designed to prevent anyone from disturbing her 8 hour lunch, i.e. no calls to chambers, no letters etc etc. Her part is where cases go to die of old age. Is there an Administrative Judge in Queens?

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10158
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I gave this imbecile 1's because I couldn't give her 0's. All of the comments below are accurate.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY10088
Rating:10.0

Comments:
Excellent judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9993
Rating:1.4

Comments:
She's an embarrassment to the entire bar.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9304
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This Judge needs to try harder. She is a combination of below average intelligence in legal matters and lack of work ethic. I feel bad for her law secretaries who must suffer her everyday. She is not even pleasant to the litigants, even snarky in her rare written opinions if you were fortunate enough not to have your motion marked off for some idiotic reason. Pity the litigant who draws her as a judge. You will wish you had a Kangaroo on the bench, literally a real live Kangaroo from the queens zoo. Your chances at justice would be about the same and the Kangaroo is less likely to be rude.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9256
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Doesn't pick up phones. Abrupt. Rude. Doesn't understand basic legal principles. Dumb and worse-couldn't give a s---.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9231
Rating:1.0

Comments:
A time waster who likely never practiced law. A disgrace and an embarrassment. And I say this as someone who has won most matters before her. May she be removed from the bench ASAP.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9200
Rating:2.3

Comments:
This judge is notable for unusual motion practice.

Upon submission of motion papers, the parties are ordered to appear for a settlement conference that takes anywhere from 3-7 hours. I have heard Queens central motion part folks chuckle when they hear that the motion papers are being sent to Long Island City (where the Judge sits).

The near full-day court appearance for simple motions begins with waiting to speak with the Judge's clerks, whose difficult job is to try to reach global settlement (even pre-answer in complex litigation). On paper, this sounds laudable, but in practice it just leads to economic inefficiencies and markedly increased costs to clients.

But now that you've sat through the appearance of 3-7 hours (you might not be called before lunch), your motion will surely be decided, right? Not so fast.

At least sometimes, it appears, the parties are asked to withdraw their motion because the court intends to deny it. Those with the temerity to refuse might just receive an order stating that the parties wasted the court's time by asking it to issue an (appealable) order.

The court also has or had pre-printed forms for "requesting" that the parties stipulate to give the court additional time to decide the motion (it seems designed to try and bypass the 60-day administrative guideline for issuing timely decisions but I cannot be certain).

On the one hand, the court seems to issue decisions on motions somewhat quickly. On the other hand, the court appears to resolve motions by first resorting to any minute technicality observable to avoid the substance. I'm talking about technicalities so minute, inconsequential or typographical that the Court appears to ignore CPLR 2001: "if a substantial right of a party is not prejudiced, the mistake, omission, defect or irregularity SHALL BE DISREGARDED, provided that any applicable fees shall be paid" (emphasis added).

The overall effect of forcing parties to attend court for 6+ hours for any motion appears designed to deter parties from making motions, in my opinion. The overall effect of denying motions on non-prejudicial, technical grounds also seem designed to deter parties from making motions, in my opinion.

Overall, the court's herculean efforts to "settle" lawsuits may resolve some things. Again the goal is laudatory, but it seems to be treated as necessary practice even where it is useless. So, in practice it has only increased my litigation fees and therefore financially harmed my clients. The word martinet, in my opinion and admittedly limited experience, seems in my mind to be not far from the mark. The cherry on top is that I have also observed her being mean to attorneys.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9164
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She is everything that is wrong with politics and government wrapped up in one dumpy package. Utterly unqualified to be a judge of any kind.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9140
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Couldn't spell CAT if you gave her the C and A.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9136
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Scraped from the bottom of the political barrel. A lazy, stupid disgrace to the bench and mankind.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY9135
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She's lazy. She's dumb as a hammer. She's nasty. And those are her good points! She's DPK, quite possibly the worst judge in New York State. Must be seen in action to be disbelieved.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY9065
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
This woman is afraid to make a decision, any decision on any issue at anytime. She is the only Judge I ever knew that ran her whole calendar with a view toward eliminating any possibility for a reversal. She is either very lazy or not that bright but it is probably both. As long as "Judges" like this continue to be employed our system of justice is in peril. She is a disgrace to the robe.