CHARLESTON – An embattled family court judge is retiring.
Raleigh County Family Court Judge Louise E. Goldston submitted her retirement letter January 30 to Governor Jim Justice and West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Beth Walker.
Goldston says she is retiring January 31 at the end of the business day.
“It has been an honor serving my constituents the past 28 ½ years,” she wrote.
Her retirement letter comes a week after a resolution was introduced asking the House Judiciary Committee to investigate allegations of impeachable offenses against her.
House Resolution 6 was introduced January 23 by a group of delegates led by Geoff Foster (R-Putnam) to investigate claims against Louise E. Goldston. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw (R-Clay) also was a co-sponsor of the resolution.
Following Goldston's announcement, Hanshaw said the House will take no further action on the resolution.
In 2020, Goldston stopped a divorce hearing and told the parties to meet at the home of the man involved in the divorce. Once there, Goldston led a search of the man’s home without a warrant, threatened to have him arrested when he started recording the incident and had a bailiff seize his phone. When the man’s ex-wife claimed items belonged to her, Goldston told her to take the items. The man says Goldston walked barefoot through his house and sat in a rocking chair.
That man, Matthew Gibson, reported Goldston to the state Judicial Investigation Commission, which charged her with violating the state Code of Judicial Conduct.
“It was incredibly frustrating to have my rights and my privacy violated that day,” Gibson said. “This lawsuit is about standing up for my rights and ensuring other people have a way to get justice when their rights are violated.”
In March 2021, Gibson filed the federal lawsuit against Goldston as well as the Raleigh County Commission and three sheriff’s deputies related to the incident. That was the same month the Judicial Hearing Board issued its recommended decision to the state Supreme Court regarding Goldston’s actions after she had been charged with violating at least seven rules in the Code of Judicial Conduct after admitting she visited homes of litigants to check on disputed property.
In September 2020, the state Judicial Investigation Commission filed its formal statement of charges with the Supreme Court against Goldston, who says she is entitled to judicial immunity and seeks to have Gibson’s claims dismissed in federal court.
Goldston has served as a family court judge since 1994, and she presides over cases in Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming counties. Before this, she never had been disciplined for judicial misconduct. But she did admit she had a 20-year practice of going to parties’ homes “to either determine if certain disputed marital property was present and/or to supervise the transfer of disputed property.”
The resolution says the House Judiciary Committee has the power to investigate Goldston based on the allegations against her and, if deemed proper, can present a resolution and articles of impeachment against her.
The resolution first was referred to the House Judiciary Committee. If it passes there, it then will be sent to the House Rules Committee.
