A Brooklyn Supreme Court judge has been admonished by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct for attempting to use her judicial position to evade sanitation fines. Judge Katherine Levine accumulated multiple fines starting in March 2024 for garbage left outside her home and for failing to properly secure trash bins.
According to records, Levine began receiving $50 fines in March 2024 after city workers noted a "large accumulation" of waste outside her Borough Park residence. Over the following year, she incurred two additional $50 fines for not properly sealing her trash cans.
During her interactions with the NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), Levine "repeatedly and gratuitously invoked her judicial title," the commission found. When challenging her first summons, she wrote, "I plead not guilty. I am a Supreme Court Justice in Kings County and went to work at 10am." OATH determined she had not presented a valid legal defense and ordered the fine paid within 30 days, which she did not do.
Levine received two more summonses in March and June 2025. She did not challenge these, leading OATH to issue default judgments that increased each fine to $300. In October 2025, she left a voicemail for OATH, identifying herself as Judge Katherine Levine and stating she had "trials every day in Supreme Court." On the same day, she sent two emails from her work account, which listed her as "Hon. Katherine A Levine." In these emails, she claimed she was never notified of hearing dates and could not attend OATH hearings due to her judicial duties.
She also inquired about paying the fines without attending a hearing, suggesting that as a "trial judge in Supreme Court," she had "trials and motions every day." The following day, she filed an online motion, again referencing her judicial status and stating, "I vacate default judgments all the time in the name of equity and justice. I believe these first-time tickets for garbage disposals is 50 dollars." OATH responded that they "do not participate in settlement" and that the judge "must follow OATH rules and protocols as everyone must do."
Levine, who has served as a judge since 2008 and on the Kings County Supreme Court since 2017, had no prior disciplinary record. The commission found her conduct "inconsistent with her obligations to maintain high standards of conduct" and a violation of the rule prohibiting judges from using their office to advance private interests. The commission determined that an admonition was sufficient punishment, expressing confidence that Levine has learned from the experience and will adhere to judicial conduct rules in the future. The commission noted that Levine expressed remorse and embarrassment for her actions, recognizing that invoking her title was perceived as an attempt to gain a favorable outcome.
