This suspended North Jersey lawyer is suing a bunch of Paterson officials. This is why
PATERSON — Suspended attorney David Cubby has put together a long list of people he says have deprived him of his civil rights.
The group includes 10 New Jersey Superior Court judges in Passaic and Bergen counties, the governor, a congressman, the county prosecutor, the mayor of Paterson and the city’s public safety director.
Also targeted in a 56-page federal lawsuit that Cubby filed last month are the New Jersey Supreme Court, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, the Passaic Valley Water Commission, the Paterson Library board of trustees, the company that built the Center City Mall in Paterson and the city’s largest nonprofit developer.
Cubby once was a member of Paterson's Historic Preservation Society, was part of the Friends of Hinchliffe Stadium group and served on the city's library board. His participation in city-based groups has waned in recent years.
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What Cubby claims
Cubby alleges in his lawsuit that he is “the target of a comprehensive scheme of retaliation and harassment designed to infringe upon Plaintiff’s personal freedoms under color of law for the purpose of diverting state and federal funds for the unlawful benefit of politically connected persons.”
As a result of the conspiracy, Cubby claims, he was falsely disciplined by New Jersey’s Office of Attorney Ethics, falsely arrested by the Paterson police, and victimized by “falsified records” and “falsified order” by the state’s judicial system.
Among Cubby’s allegations are that the Paterson library board illegally allowed a police substation to open at one of its branches, that he was improperly evicted from his Paterson apartment over an illegal rent increase, and that police officers illegally seized his two rifles during the eviction and later beat him up when he tried to get the weapons back at a downtown gun shop.
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What kind of damages does the suit seek?
In his lawsuit, filed on May 22, Cubby says he is seeking $18 million in damages. None of the people named in Cubby’s complaint has filed a response to his accusations.
The New Jersey Supreme Court in July 2021 suspended Cubby’s law license for 90 days for various violations of attorney ethics standards, and that penalty has remained in effect because of his refusal to cooperate with the investigation of his conduct, according to public documents.
The suspension documents said Cubby lives in Waldwick.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ officials face lawsuit from suspended lawyer
