A controversial disciplinary complaint filed against a presiding judge for allowing his secretary to work remotely has been dismissed by the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Douglas H. Hurd, the Mercer County Superior Court presiding judge of the Civil Division, was alleged to have violated three cannons of the Code of Judicial Conduct by allowing his secretary to work from home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. After the complaint was initially filed with the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, a September order issued by the New Jersey Supreme Court stopped those proceedings, and the high court took on the case.