Governor Kathy Hochul appointed Andrew Amer, the attorney who led the New York State Attorney General’s civil fraud prosecution of Donald Trump in 2023, to the state Court of Claims on June 4. Hochul announced 28 judicial appointments across New York courts.
Amer has spent much of the past decade as special counsel in the Attorney General’s Executive Division, representing state agencies in federal and state court. Before joining the AG’s office, he worked nearly 30 years as a litigator at Simpson Thacher Bartlett.
The state Court of Claims hears civil cases against New York State or its agencies, including personal injury, breach of contract, medical malpractice, unjust imprisonment, and property appropriation.
Amer led the AG’s prosecution that accused Trump, his children, and his businesses of vastly overstating property values to secure favorable loans and credits, according to AMNY’s coverage of the appointment. The case ended in a bench trial conviction in 2023. A mid-level New York appeals court later threw out many of the financial penalties.
“Our judicial system works best when we have talented, qualified jurists on the bench,” Hochul said in a statement. “These nominees bring the expertise, experience and judgment necessary to uphold the rule of law, and they will be instrumental in ensuring justice is administered fairly and impartially throughout New York.”
Hochul’s appointments include two new Court of Claims judges from New York City. Danielle Eaddy of Brooklyn joins the bench from the Kings County District Attorney’s office, where she has spent much of her more than three decades in law. There she served as deputy bureau chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau, deputy bureau chief of the Grand Jury Division, supervising trial attorney of a trial zone, and most recently bureau chief of a trial bureau. Judge Fiordaliza Rodriguez of the Bronx, a Family Court judge who has handled child protection cases since 2015, also joins the Court of Claims. She has more than 25 years of legal experience, including work as a court attorney referee, an assigned counsel panel attorney, and a private practitioner.
The governor also renewed the terms of five existing New York City Court of Claims judges: Hon. Alexander Jeong of the Richmond County Criminal Term; Hon. Charles Troia, who oversees guardianship, civil case management, civil mental hygiene, and medical malpractice parts in Richmond County; Hon. Daniel Conviser, an acting Supreme Court Justice who also sits in the criminal term of the Manhattan Supreme Court; Hon. Jeanette Rodriguez-Morick of Manhattan, who handles state claims in the Bronx and serves as a designated acting Supreme Court Justice in the Bronx County Criminal Division; and Hon. Michele Rodney, who serves on the Advisory Committee of Judicial Ethics and the ADA Advisory Committee of the New York State Unified Court System, and chairs the Equal Justice Committee for the First Judicial District.
Hochul separately appointed two new interim Justices of the Supreme Court from New York City. Hon. Joseph Risi of Queens has served as an acting Supreme Court justice for Queens civil matters since 2017. He currently oversees parts covering trial scheduling, tax certiorari, and the commercial division. Hon. Tandra L. Dawson has presided over Manhattan’s Integrated Domestic Violence Court since 2007, handling criminal, matrimonial, and family court matters.
Featured image: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.ne / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
