P

• Author: Elizabeth Smith/Mark Thompson
• Pages: 145-179

PALMIERI, DANIEL

Justice, Matrimonial Part, Tenth Judicial

District Supreme Court, Nassau County

Appointment/Election: Elected to

County Court in 1994; reelected in 2005.

Elected to the Supreme Court in 2010.

Previous Experience: Acting Supreme

Court Justice, County Court, Nassau County;

District Court, Nassau County. Law Practice:

General Counsel, Vice President (nationally

known REIT); Partner, Meyer, Suozzi, English

& Klein-Mineola; Associate, Dewey Ballantine

Firm, New York City, Counsel, Reisman,

Peirez & Reisman, Garden City, NY.

Honors and Memberships: Member: St.

John’s Law School Alumni Board (Board of

Directors, and various activities); Nassau

County Bar Association (Elected Director,

Editor of the monthly journal, featured

columnist); New York State Bar Association;

member of various local and specialty bar

associations. Former Member: Nassau

County Committee on Women in the Courts;

International Council of Shopping Centers.

Teaching/Lectures/Publications:

Lecturer, New York State and Nassau County

Bar Associations, the Columbian Lawyers,

and other professional organizations.

Education: L.L.B., St. John’s University;

B.A., St. John’s University.

Biographical Data: Married.

Recent Noteworthy Decisions: Judge

Palmieri has published numerous decisions

in the New York State Official Reporter and

the New York Law Journal, and various arti-

cles in the ICSC “Legal Update” and the

Nassau County Bar Association Journal.

Address: Supreme Court

100 Supreme Court Drive

Mineola, NY 11501

Phone: (516) 493-3227

Fax: (516) 571-0848

E-Mail: dpalmier@courts.state.ny.us

Website: judgepalmieri.com

Law Clerk: Philip Weis

Secretary: Carol Peluso

ATTORNEYS’ COMMENTS

TEMPERAMENT/DEMEANOR

Justice Palmieri is “judicious,” said one

attorney, who added, “I happen to like him. I

am very comfortable in his part. I have

always found him to be courteous. He never

goes out of his way to embarrass an attorney,

which I can’t say about all judges. He is also

patient.” Another attorney who has appeared

before him several times added, “He was fine

as far as judicial temperament goes. My rec-

ollection is that he was courteous and

showed the proper judicial temperament.”

Other attorneys interviewed about the judge

said he is “very respectful of the attorneys”

and is “a nice guy.”

ON THE BENCH

Justice Palmieri is “a very capable judge,”

said one interviewee. Others agreed. “I have

read his opinions in the Law Journal, and

they seem to be well reasoned and fair to

both sides,” said one. “He seems to be a pret-

ty bright guy,” opined another. A different

interviewee said that he was previously

assigned to a criminal court but later was

transferred to a civil court, and he “is very

good” in the latter assignment. “He knows

the law. He works hard. He’s fine,” the attor-

ney said. Another civil practitioner stated,

“His knowledge is at least as good as mine,

and I would say I am very knowledgeable.”

ONTRIAL

“The most important thing about Justice

Palmieri for a trial lawyer to know is not only

his swift action in ruling on issues of evi-

dence, so as not to disrupt the flow of ques-

tioning, which is above average, but I would

also say that he is not a ball-buster. He fully

appreciates the practical problems that we

have in getting witnesses when we need them

and where we need them. He is not going to

punish a litigant for a recalcitrant witness.

He also moves cases efficiently and effective-

ly,” the attorney said. Another interviewee

who has tried cases in Justice Palmieri’s

court said, “He is a no-nonsense type of guy,

but I think he is a good trial judge.” An attor-

ney who appeared before the judge in several

criminal cases added, “I tried a nonjury civil

case before him, and I didn’t think he would

be as good as he was. He cut right through to

the issues. He knew what he was doing

there. I have nothing bad to say about him.”

Profiles Palmieri 631

SETTLEMENTS

None of the attorneys interviewed about

Justice Palmieri had any experience with him

in settlement negotiations. “I was able to

plead all of my cases out in his court,” said

one interviewee, who added, “As far as I

remember, he lets his staff attorney handle

it, though obviously, he has to approve every-

thing. I don’t remember much more than

that.” Another interviewee who has taken

cases to trial before Justice Palmieri added,

“Because the bulk of my business is serving

as trial counsel for other lawyers, I get the

cases when they can’t be settled. So settle-

ment negotiations have occurred before I get

into the case.”

ADJOURNMENTS/CONTINUANCES

One interviewee said, “I have never had a

problem” with Justice Palmieri with regard to

adjournments or scheduling of proceedings.

“His efficiency in handling his calendar is

pretty good,” the attorney said. Another

interviewee said, “My recollection is that if

there is a good reason for an adjournment,

he may grouse about it a little bit, but you

will get it.”

PROCLIVITIES

None of the attorneys interviewed about

Justice Palmieri had any complaints about

biases on his part. “He is a very good, fair-

minded judge,” said one. Several other inter-

viewees said he is “not unfair to either side,”

and he “seems to be very fair and very even-

handed.” Another interviewee mentioned one

of Justice Palmieri’s most notable pet peeves.

“He has an absolute impatience with obvi-

ously lying witnesses.” When that happens,

the interviewee added, “The judge exercises

his discretion to cut through the b.s. and ask

direct questions. I have seen that, and that is

not a criticism. In my opinion, that is what a

judge should do.”

SUGGESTIONS/SUMMARY

Justice Palmieri is, by the account of all of

the attorneys interviewed about him, a cour-

teous, respectful and very competent judge.

He is also bright, quickly issues evidentiary

rulings, and has no qualms about directly

questioning witnesses, particularly if he sus-

pects that a witness is not telling the truth.

PALUMBO, DANIEL R.

Judge [Part-Time Position], Olean City

Court, Eighth Judicial District Supreme

Court, Cattaraugus County

Appointment/Election: Appointed in 1993

by the Mayor; last re-appointed in 2011.

Previous Experience: Law Practice,

DiCerbo & Palumbo, Olean, NY, 1976-pre-

sent; Legal Staff, Endicott Johnson Corp.,

Endicott, NY, 1975-1976.

Education: J.D., Albany Law School, NY

(1975); B.S., Canisius College, NY (1972).

Biographical Data: Born February 23,

1950 in Olean, NY. Married; three children.

Address: Olean Municipal Building

101 East State Street

Olean, NY 14760

Phone: (716) 376-5621

PANEPINTO, BARBARA

Justice, Supreme Court, Richmond County

Appointment/Election: Appointed in

2000; current term expires in 2016.

Education: J.D., Brooklyn School of Law

(1984).

Address: Civil Division

130 Stuyvesant Place

Staten Island, NY 10301

Phone: (718) 675-8700

ATTORNEYS’ COMMENTS

TEMPERAMENT/DEMEANOR

Justice Panepinto “is no-nonsense. She

likes to get to the point,” said one attorney

who has known her for years, expressing an

opinion with which all of the other attorneys

interviewed about her agreed. “She is very

candid. She is very no-nonsense,” said a sec-

ond interviewee, who went on to explain that

being forthright doesn’t mean she is unlik-

able. “I think she is very relatable to people. I

like being in front of her,” that attorney said.

A third interviewee said, “She can be blunt,

but basically, I have a favorable opinion of

her,” while a fourth interviewee said, “She’s a

nice person.” One other attorney said, “Blunt

is a good way to put it. She is a lawyer’s

judge. I happen to like her a lot.”

632 Palumbo New York Judge Reviews

ON THE BENCH

Justice Panepinto is “smart” and also

“very fair,” said one attorney who added, “I

think her decisions are just.” A second inter-

viewee said, “She knows the law and applies

it very fairly. She gets to the heart of the mat-

ter in a very professional way. Her decisions

are fair and her rulings are complete.” A

third attorney said, “She knows the law

backwards and forwards.” A fourth intervie-

wee said she takes “a no-nonsense approach

to the cases” but is “a very astute, pragmatic,

scholarly and knowledgeable judge. She

wants to get to the root of the issues and dis-

pose of them according to the law.” Another

attorney said, “She knows her stuff. She is

probably the best in the city that I have seen

for matrimonial cases.”

ONTRIAL

One attorney with trial experience before

Justice Panepinto said, “I have appeared

before her for trials in a wide variety of differ-

ent cases, and she just keeps getting better

and better. She really does take a hands-on

approach. She will jump right into it and she

really comes out with the right decision at

the end of the day.” That interviewee added

that she “wants to move the case,” which, in

that attorney’s opinion, might come as a sur-

prise to some of the matrimonial lawyers who

practice before her. “There is a lot of, I think,

posing for clients and putting on a display. I

don’t do too much of that and don’t feed into

that, but there’s a lot of BS [in matrimonial

cases] that you won’t find in, say, a commer-

cial part or a civil part. That’s just in the

nature of the practice, which lends itself to

her approach, which is, ‘Shut up and sit

down and let’s really get to the issues.’” A

second interviewee, asked to comment on

how Justice Panepinto handles trials, offered

a similar assessment. “She likes to dispose of

her cases. Sometimes, she can be a bit

abrupt because of that, but I think that is

because she can see through the crap and

does not want to waste the time of the attor-

neys, the court’s resources or the money and

time of the parties. So, she is a very efficient

judge,” said that attorney, who continued, “If

a trial is necessary on financial issues, as do

most judges because of the pressure of their

calendar, she will send the financial issues to

a referee to make decisions, or at least to

hear it and report if the parties cannot come

to an agreement. On issues of custody, if

there is a real trial issue there, she is

required to be the finder of fact on those tri-

als, and she will definitely handle those.” A

third interviewee with trial experience before

her said, “She gives the cases the time they

need. She is fair.” But that attorney also

agreed that she is expeditious. “I think one of

the better things about her is that she sets

realistic expectations about the cases early

on, so the cases do not linger in her part. She

will tell you, ‘This is where the case is going

to go,’ and we all know it, unless there’s a

real curveball thrown in, which occasionally

happens. Most lawyers who have done this

for a while can come in on day one and write

down, on a little piece of paper, what’s going

to happen at the end, and they would proba-

bly be pretty close. She has that mentality.

She knows where it’s going to go, so let’s not

waste time. If you have issues, particularly

with property or money, she will send it out

to a referee almost always.” One other inter-

viewee noted, “You can’t get a trial too easily

with her. She tries not to do trials. She wants

to settle all cases, which is not necessarily a

bad thing, but sometimes it drags your case

on for a long time. But at least she’s knowl-

edgeable.”

SETTLEMENTS

By all accounts, Justice Panepinto, as one

attorney put it, “gets right to the issues” and

is “good at encouraging settlement.” A second

attorney said, “She is excellent in settling

cases,” while a third interviewee said, “She

definitely encourages settlements. That’s

pretty clear.” She and her staff “get actively

involved in settling cases,” a fourth attorney

said. One other interviewee said, “I think she

does a very good job of encouraging settle-

ment between the parties.”

ADJOURNMENTS/CONTINUANCES

Although attorneys interviewed about

Justice Panepinto agreed that she likes to get

to the point and move cases along as expedi-

tiously as possible, none complained about

her policy on adjournments. “I think she is

very fair. I have never had any problems. I

have never asked for adjournments frivolous-

ly, but I think she’s very good,” said one

interviewee. Another said her part is “very

good about adjournments. You don’t even

have to go in. You can do it by conference

call. They will grant an adjournment on the

telephone. You just send in a stipulation. I

Profiles Panepinto 633