Attorney James Mescall, of Mescall Law PC, has asked the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct to “reinstate” or file a new judicial ethics complaint against Union City Municipal Court Judge Carlos H. Acosta Jr.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
In May 27th letter to Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct Chair Carmen Messano, Mescall wrote regarding the submission of a new judicial ethics complaint with the ACJC or the revival of his initial complaint against Acosta filed back in November of 2020.
After the ACJC received Mescall’s exhibits in October 2020, the Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) notified him that the ACJC had referred the complaint there for “initial investigation” in February of 2021. After that, Mescall provided the OAE with additional evidence of Acosta’s alleged unethical conduct ranging from January 2021 to February 2024.
“I believed that (after the DRB’s decision) my continued presence as a sitting judge would likely create embarrassment to the Municipal Court, Mayor Stack, and the (Union City) Commissioners, as well as erode public trust in the judiciary, and therefore I resigned,” Acosta said in December 2024 when he was seeking to have his discipline reduced.
According to Mescall, Acosta was suspended from practicing law in the State of New Jersey by an order by the New Jersey Supreme Court in November of 2025 and effective the next month.
This was a result of the comparing attorney ethics complaint in tandem to this complaint, filed against Acosta by the OAE.
The Supreme Court determined that Acosta was: engaging in gross neglect, engaging in a pattern of neglect; lacking diligence; failing to expedite litigation; engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation; engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Mescall said these findings were based on Acosta’s stipulations entered into with the OAE, and the findings of the Disciplinary Review Board (DRB)- which initially recommended a suspension of his license to practice law for one year to be followed by a two-year probationary period.
After the DRB’s decision, Acosta resigned from the bench but continued to contest the discipline imposed by the DRB arguing he had “ineffective assistance of counsel” at the time of the hearing.
Mescall also said that Acosta still sits on the bench as a Union City Municipal Court Judge after almost four years of inaction following his judicial ethics complaint, also asserting that the ACJC never took any action on the matter.
It wasn’t until March 3rd, 2025, more than five years after the initial judicial ethics complaint, that counsel for the ACJC advised Mescall that no action would be taken in regards to his complaint because Acosta “no longer retains their judgeship.”
However, Acosta has been reappointed to the bench, and Mescall’s complaint states he is now Chief Judge of the Union City Municipal Court.
However, that title is actually held by Chief Judge Lilia Munoz, although Acosta does in fact again sit on Union City’s bench as a municipal court judge. The Union City Municipal Court did not return a request seeking comment.
“Apparently, Acosta no longer believes that his service on the bench is an embarrassment which ‘erodes public trust in the judiciary.’ As he stipulated, Acosta is a dishonest and unethical attorney and judge,” Mescall wrote.
“His reappointment as the Chief Judge, shortly after the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed that engaged in conduct involving ‘dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation’ and ‘engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice,’ can only sully the reputation of the entire New Jersey judiciary. Same accurately casts our judiciary into dispute. The public can only conclude that honesty and truthfulness are not necessary to attain a judgeship in this state.”
A footnote in Mescall’s letter notes that Union City Mayor Brian Stack, also state Senator for the 33rd Legislative District, serves as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for approving Superior Court judges statewide.
“It is unclear why Mayor Stack and the Union City Commissioners believe it is appropriate that they subject their constituents to an admittedly dishonest and unethical judge,” Mescall’s letter also says.
Further, he slammed the previous inaction by the ACJC as enabling an “admittedly dishonest and unethical judge” to sit on the bench for years.
He continued that that same failure allowed Acosta to be reappointed “which he previously resigned in disgrace due to his admitted dishonesty and unethical conduct.”
According to Mescall, his letter is him formally resubmitting an application for the ACJC to reinstate his 2020 complaint against Acosta or for them to consider it a new judicial ethics complaint.
He requested a swift hearing from ACJC on the matter, “as an admittedly dishonest and unethical judge” has been permitted to return to the bench.
The letter was sent to Judge Georgia Curio, Judge Robert Zane, Judge Hector Velazquez, Judge Stuart Rabner, Karen Kessler, and attorneys Matthew Boxer, Paul Walker, Diana Manning, Emily Kaller, and Richard Solano.
