Previously suspended Lexington judge accused of misconduct in convoluted custody case
A Fayette County family judge who has been suspended twice for not complying with the law or rules in custody cases has had another complaint filed against her with the Judicial Conduct Commission.
Fayette Circuit Judge Kathy Stein’s actions in court were unfair and abusive, said Rhonda Lawson, a mother involved in an unusual custody battle over a child she had with Mark Kleinman, a married former University of Kentucky doctor.
Stein awarded full custody to Kleinman after more than a year-long court battle that included allegations of elaborate deception and baby buying. The child lives with Kleinman, his wife and their children, according to court records.
The dispute between the unwed parents stretches across multiple court cases and includes a domestic violence order and a fraud lawsuit.
“Judge Stein knew I was an excellent mother,” Lawson wrote in her complaint to the Judicial Commission, which oversees Kentucky judges and previously suspended Stein. “Dr. Mark Kleinman, whom got me pregnant while he was married, also knew I was an excellent mother.”
Multiple calls to Stein’s office for comment were not returned, but judges typically don’t talk about pending cases. The commission confirmed receipt of the complaint, which Lawson sent on Sept. 8, and advised it was determining its next course of action, according to a letter to Lawson. The commission’s activities are confidential unless it punishes judges.
In her lengthy custody ruling, Stein took aim at the mother who has an old criminal record for theft.
“Lawson’s inability to place her full attention on the son’s wellbeing, and instead seeking monetary gain and revenge on the ones by whom she feels wronged, shows an absence of mature judgment which is required for the best interests of this child,” Stein wrote in her court order.
Stein praised Kleinman, despite the accusations of deceit.
“His curriculum vitae was lengthy and impressive,” Stein wrote of Kleinman. “Evidence showed that the time Kleinman spent with Lawson was limited by his onerous schedule of surgeries, clinic coverage, charting, grant-writing and time spent with his wife and two children.”
Mom alleges affair full of deceit led to custody case
Lawson and Kleinman met in September 2014, according to a lawsuit she filed against Kleinman. The two began a “long-term romantic relationship.”
In a new court filing Friday, Kleinman disputed Lawson’s lawsuit allegations. She said Kleinman initially lied to her about his last name, his occupation and his marital status.
Lawson’s lawsuit further states Kleinman also lied about a previous vasectomy.
It wasn’t until late 2016 that Lawson began to learn of Kleinman’s lies, according to Lawson’s lawsuit. One of Lawson’s children got an eye infection, and when Kleinman showed concern over it, he revealed himself to be an ophthalmologist.
In May 2017, Lawson went to a Lexington emergency room over abdominal discomfort and learned she was pregnant.
When she told Kleinman, he disclosed his real last name while admitting he had a wife and had told other lies, according to Lawson’s lawsuit.
Kleinman was accused of trying to pay Lawson $20,000 to have an abortion, according to the lawsuit.
Shifting course, Kleinman allegedly told Lawson he was unhappy in his marriage but couldn’t leave because his wife would take their children. He offered to support Lawson and the child if Lawson kept the child secret, and she agreed, according to her lawsuit.
Kleinman told Lawson he was in love with her, and he told Lawson’s parents he planned to divorce his wife and marry Lawson, according to Lawson’s suit. That never happened.
Five months after their child was born, Kleinman caved under the pressure and told his wife about Lawson and his secret child, according to court records. He later told a state-licensed social worker that he couldn’t handle the stress of keeping it secret.
Kleinman and his wife, Blythe Savage, went to counseling to work out their issues, according to court records. Lawson alleged in court files that they each separately offered her $300,000 for the child, wanting Lawson to give up her parental rights.
When Lawson refused, Kleinman sued her for full custody, according to Lawson’s lawsuit. He also filed a domestic violence order against Lawson, which prohibited her from having direct contact with him. Although the order is sealed, other documents indicate Lawson refused to leave Kleinman’s house on one occasion.
In his response to the lawsuit, Kleinman denied the allegations that he or his wife had tried to bribe Lawson to have an abortion or give up custody rights. He also denied lying about his job, marital status, name and whether or not he’d had a vasectomy, according to his court-filed response. Savage also filed a response, denying the same allegations.
Kleinman and Savage say they offered to adopt the child, according to their court documents.
Lexington judge details her views of parents
When Stein wrote her final custody ruling, she took issue with Lawson’s past criminal record. Lawson had — five to 10 years earlier — pleaded guilty multiple times to misdemeanor theft. She also pleaded guilty when she was cited in 2013 for not having an escort license for a sensual massage business operating out of her home, according to court records.
In one plea, Lawson admitted to stealing nearly $675 worth of merchandise to pay babysitters, according to court records. She also later pleaded guilty to theft from two department stores, according to court records.
Lawson wanted her criminal record, with the 2009 and 2014 thefts, disregarded during the custody hearing, arguing that the charges happened before she had Kleinman’s child, according to court records.
The escort service involved sexually explicit acts, Stein wrote in her final opinion.
Stein said that Lawson “showed significant dishonesty regarding the disturbing nature of the actions for which she was charged and to which she pled guilty.”
The judge also rejected Lawson’s assertions she was offered money to abort or give up her baby. Kleinman “made no offer of financial payment for her to terminate the pregnancy,” Stein said.
However, Lawson was “significantly motivated by the monetary windfall this child would afford her whole family,” Stein wrote. Through money from Kleinman, Lawson had arranged for a “tax-free” annual sum of $48,000 through June 2020 followed by $72,000 after that, Stein wrote.
Stein appeared to have a much higher opinion of Kleinman and his wife, who never made a court appearance for the custody case, according to court records. Savage stayed focused on saving her marriage despite all the hostility directed at her by Lawson, Stein wrote.
“Her strength of character in refusing to be distracted from the goal can only be described as mythical,” Stein’s ruling said.
That ruling was 20 pages long and featured more commentary on the parents than what was common in other judges’ custody rulings the Herald-Leader reviewed.
Was mother ‘victimized’ by Fayette court?
Lawson said Stein treated her unfairly throughout the legal process, from the filing of the case on April 13, 2018, until Stein gave Kleinman full custody of their child on Dec. 30, 2019, according to court records.
The mother wasn’t the only one making that assertion.
Kimberly Castle, a state-licensed batterer’s intervention provider who offered services to Lawson after she was ordered to take domestic violence prevention classes, said in a July report on the case that Stein “victimized” Lawson.
“The one thing I am most certain of is that Rhonda has been treated differently by the court than in any other case I have worked with,” Castle wrote in her July 12 final report on the case. That report hasn’t been filed with the court yet, but the judge has acknowledged Castle’s work on the case.
Castle told the Herald-Leader she was tasked with mediating, collecting information from those involved, and providing neutral third-party information to the court.
Louis Winner, one of several lawyers Lawson has hired during this process, took issue with Stein’s behavior. His primary concern was that Stein ordered the case to remain in Kentucky’s jurisdiction even though the parents moved to Tennessee.
Lawson and Kleinman both lived in Lexington when they met, according to court records, but Kleinman later moved to Tennessee, and so did Lawson, according to court records. Winner and Lawson filed a motion to have the case transferred to a Tennessee court. Tennessee was willing to hear the case, and there was past precedent for moving the case, Winner told the Herald-Leader.
But Stein overruled the motion on June 22 and kept the case in her court. On the same day, Stein heard a motion filed by Kleinman in which he asked Stein to ban Lawson from posting about their son on any public social media pages, according to court records. Stein approved the motion.
“I think she abused her discretion,” Winner told the Herald-Leader.
After the custody ruling came back in Kleinman’s favor, Lawson sued him and Savage for fraud, abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to court records. Lawson filed that lawsuit in Fayette County because the alleged false statements by Kleinman happened in Fayette County, court records say.
Kleinman and Savage moved to have the case dismissed, but Fayette Circuit Judge Lucy VanMeter partially overruled the motion. She allowed for two of the fraud claims to be heard in court, as well as the emotional distress claim. She dismissed the abuse of process and surrogacy by fraud claims, according to court records.
Lawson told the Herald-Leader that it was “an honor” to see the case continue in court.
Prior sanctions: ‘Failure to uphold ... integrity of the judiciary’
The Judicial Conduct Commission suspended Stein in 2016 and 2017 over three cases, saying she violated several canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct, including those that require judges to take care of cases “promptly, efficiently and fairly.” She also didn’t maintain high standards of conduct ... “by failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.”
In the 2017 cases, Stein was punished after she issued an emergency custody order in favor of the father of a child without a hearing. In the other, she issued a custody order without allowing one of the involved parties to obtain counsel, the commission said in its suspension order. The suspensions ranged from one to several weeks.
Kleinman’s attorneys in the current custody case are Anita Britton and Tamara Combs, both from the Britton Johnson PLLC law firm. That same law firm was involved in one of the previous cases over which Stein was suspended.
But the attorneys in that previous case, Crystal Osborne and Lauren Hart, are no longer with the firm. The firm was previously named Britton Osborne Johnson PLLC.
Osborne was also involved in another case that led to Stein’s suspensions, but on that occasion, she was working with Osborne Green PLLC.
Winner, Lawson’s attorney in the custody case, said Britton was a very good lawyer with “a very good reputation.” Britton has received numerous awards for her legal accomplishments, according to her website.
Britton Johnson PLLC representatives declined to comment on Kleinman and Lawson’s case.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 10:47 AM.
CORRECTION: The specific lawsuit accusations dismissed by Judge Lucy VanMeter were incorrect in a previous version of this story.