Nick Muscavage

@nmuscavage

Emery Toth has a law office on Maple Street in Perth Amboy.

He is also listed a municipal judge in Woodbridge and Perth Amboy.

He was reprimanded by a judiciary conduct committee in 2008 while serving as a judge in South River.

An attorney based in Perth Amboy convinced a client to give $250,000 to a woman with whom he had "an intimate relationship" and "had a child who was born of the relationship," according to a complaint now facing the attorney that came down from a state judiciary ethics committee in the district of Middlesex County.

Marybeth DeHanes first met Emery Toth, who also serves a municipal judge in Woodbridge and Perth Amboy, after her husband died in 1992 when she was seeking legal representation in the closing of her husband's estate, according to the complaint filed on Aug. 1.

Although the copy of the retainer agreement has not been presented to the ethics committee, Toth gave legal and financial advice to DeHanes, and encouraged her to invest the $250,000 life insurance policy from her husband's death into an investment realty company.

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What Toth, whose law office is on Maple Street, failed to mention to DeHanes, according to the complaint, was that the president of the investment company was a woman with whom he had a sexual relationship dating to the 1970s (a child was born out of that relationship).

Carol Gronczewski, the president of the investment company, was to secure the money loaned to her by investing it in a mortgage at a property on Oak Tree Road in Edison, but a mortgage was never filed, according to the complaint.

Not long after, Toth recommended that DeHanes file a wrongful death lawsuit against her husband's physicians, alleging malpractice. He put her in contact with a law firm and in 2000 the suit was settled for around $2 million and DeHanes received about $500,000, with other sums of money going to her sons.

DeHanes also filed for double indemnity through the advice from the firm Toth put her in contact with. Alleging her husband's death was accidental because of the negligence of healthcare providers, she received an additional check worth $250,000 from the life insurance company.

No lawsuit was filed against the insurance company, however, according to the complaint against Toth.

Toth advised DeHanes that she owed him one-third of the $250,000 for his services in obtaining the money, but because a retainer cannot be produced, there is no proof of the terms Toth and DeHanes agreed to.

Toth received around $80,000 for writing "a few" letters to the insurance carrier, according to the ethics complaint.

According to committee charging Toth, attorneys have an obligation to charge fees that are reasonable.

"Writing a few letters to an insurance company and receiving $250,000 would not justify the collection of a one-third legal fee," especially without a retainer agreement, the complaint said.

In 2000, DeHanes loaned $500,000 to Gronczewski to be invested in a property in Skillman, Montgomery, but again, a mortgage was never filed.

Toth continued to represent DeHanes "convincing her that she should invest in his paramour's business ventures without ever disclosing the close relationship between the parties," which DeHanes would be entering into contract with, according to the complaint.

The ethics committee concluded its complaint by stating that Toth "should be disciplined."

Toth is listed as a municipal judge on the websites of Woodbridge and Perth Amboy. He also previously served as a municipal judge in South River, where he was reprimanded in 2008 by a state advisory committee on judicial conduct.

After a man pleaded not guilty to non-moving traffic violations in 2008, he went to exit the room and made a noise, according to the complaint against Toth, causing Toth, who was serving as the judge, to engage the man in a conversation that "became increasingly adversarial."

Toth called himself a "street guy" and wasn't offended by the man's actions until the noise was made.

"I'm just telling you that's contempt in the face of the court," Toth said. "You're going to jail. You're going to stay there for another 30 days."

After arguing back and forth, the amount of jail time continued increasing until finally reaching 180 days.

The complaint said that Toth abused his power by not giving the man a chance to respond and by not issuing the necessary order of contempt.

Toth wrote an apology to the advisory committee and accepted "full responsibility" for his actions, according to the complaint.

Staff Writer Nick Muscavage: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com