A judge in Brooklyn was publicly admonished Thursday for giving an ultimatum to an attorney in a closed-door conference: either accept an immediate settlement in the case or be reported for remarks made in open court that were perceived as racist and offensive.

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct, in a public determination, recommended that Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Genine Edwards be given a sanction of admonition over the incident.

Michael Tawil, the attorney that Edwards warned, had told the jury during closing remarks in a personal injury case that one of the defendants involved in a car accident "could be frying up some platanos in the front seat," the commission said.

Edwards didn't end up reporting Tawil for the remark, but it's possible that the in-court statements could receive scrutiny in the future.

That's because, on top of his work, Tawil is also a village justice in Ossining, New York, a village in Westchester County. He unsuccessfully ran for Westchester County Court judge this year.

That means any allegations of misconduct reported about him, either on or off the bench, would be open for scrutiny from both the Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Attorney Grievance Committee for the Appellate Division, Second Department.

When reached by phone on Thursday, Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian declined to comment as to whether the commission had opened an investigation into Tawil's remarks.

Tawil did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday afternoon.

Edwards was represented before the Commission on Judicial Conduct by Roger Bennett Adler, a solo practitioner from Manhattan. Adler said Edwards accepted the commission's decision to sanction her and considered it a "learning experience."

"Justice Genine Edwards, one of the hardest-working justices in Kings County, reacted to a perceived ethnically insensitive summation argument by defense counsel which was unsupported by the trial evidence," Adler said.

"This matter has provided her with a 'learning experience' concerning a decision made during the press of a hotly contested trial," he continued.

The comment was part of a broader series of characterizations about one of the defendants that Tawil made to the jury during closing remarks. He represented another defendant in the trial and was trying to shift liability away from his client.

"On the other hand, you have Mr. Batista. He's on the phone talking to his female girlfriend or someone," Tawil said, followed by a series of other claims.

"For all we know, he could be frying up some platanos in the front seat. We don't know. But he's not paying attention to the road, what's going on around him, okay," Tawil then said.

Before the jury was charged the following day, Edwards called Tawil and his client's insurance adjuster into her chambers for an off-the-record discussion about settling the case. She told him his remarks about platanos were racist, according to the commission, and gave him a warning.

"What's going to happen now is your client is going to pay $25,000 to settle this case right now or I am going to report you to the Appellate Division, Second Department," Edwards said, according to the commission. "That's your license counselor."

The insurance adjuster, who was in the meeting for purposes of a settlement, called his supervisor and reported back that they would not settle for that amount. They instead offered a $15,000 settlement, which was declined by the plaintiff.

After Edwards charged the jury the following day, she disclosed the conversation with Tawil and the adjuster. She made clear, in court, that she and her staff were offended by Tawil's remarks and disclosed that she advised them to settle the case.

"I'd like to indicate that I had a[n] off the record conversation with defendant Bahiro's counsel as well as the adjustor … regarding statements made by counsel during his summations which I was offended by and I thought they were totally culturally insensitive statements," Edwards said, according to the commission.

The jury, thereafter, returned a verdict finding Tawil's client, Bahiro, and the one he'd criticized, Batista, equally responsible for the accident. Before the jury finished deliberating the plaintiff settled her claim against Tawil's client for $65,000.

While Edwards may have been offended by Tawil's comments, she violated the rules of judicial conduct when she told him she would report him to the Attorney Grievance Committee if his client didn't settle the case, the commission said.

In its determination, the commission labeled the conduct from Edwards as "coercive and improper."

"While judges have discretion to try to settle cases, their behavior must still comply with judicial ethics rules," Tembeckjian said. "Threatening to file a professional grievance against an attorney, as a means to effect a settlement, is coercive and improper."

Edwards readily accepted responsibility for her actions and said she would not repeat the incident in the future, Tembeckjian said. She was recommended to be admonished, a minor sanction from the commission.

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