Search Tips

Informal Complaints Against Judges or Judicial Employees

What is the informal complaint process?

  • The informal complaint process is a method for addressing complaints or concerns about judges and employees of the state judicial system.
  • The informal complaint system is confidential, non-confrontational and educational. It is intended to constructively influence conduct and resolve issues before they rise to the level of a formal grievance or disciplinary proceeding.

The informal complaint process will address:

  • Complaints about the conduct of judges and employees of the state judicial system.
  • Complaints are limited to conduct occurring in connection with judicial proceedings or in the judicial employment environment.
  • Complaints which will be considered include those involving temperament; bias related to race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status; or other inappropriate behavior. (Complaints that a judge committed legal error are not included.)

How to make an informal complaint.

  • Complaints must be in writing.
  • A complaint must identify the person who is making the complaint and the person complained about. The name of the person making the complaint will not be disclosed without that person's permission.
  • Forms for making complaints are available in the County Clerk of Court offices, from the courts' administrative offices and here:
    Click here for the Informal Complaint Form. (Print the form to use.)
  • Complaints may be mailed to:
    Informal Complaint Panel
    c/o Administrative Office
    600 E. Boulevard Ave.
    Bismarck, ND 58505-0530
    The envelope should be marked: Personal and Confidential.
    Complaints may also be filed with any member of the Informal Complaint Panel.

Anonymity?

Complaints will be accepted only if the identities of the person making the complaint and the person who is the subject of the complaint are made known to the Informal Complaint Panel.

The name of the person making the complaint will not be disclosed to the person who is the subject of the complaint unless the person who is making the complaint consents.

Action?

The Informal Complaint Panel or a member may use any informal methods of addressing the complaint that are appropriate under the circumstances. Another judge or judicial employee may be contacted for assistance in addressing the matter.

Complaints may be mailed to:

Informal Complaint Panel
c/o Administrative Office
600 E. Boulevard Ave.
Bismarck, ND 58505-0530

Please mark the envelope: Personal and Confidential

Click for more information on the Informal Complaint Panel and Administrative Rule.

 

Runtime Error

Server Error in '/' Application.

Runtime Error

Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".


<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="Off"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>

Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.


<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>