Andrew Amer of Manhattan, a special counsel within the Office of the Attorney General’s Executive Division, received the appointment from the governor on June 4. 

Amer receives his black robe after spending much of the past decade with the Attorney General’s office, where he has served as special litigation counsel, representing state agencies in federal and state court. Prior to being with the AG’s office, he spent nearly 30 years as a litigator with Simpson Thacher Bartlett.

Amer gained notoriety for leading the AG office’s successful prosecution of then-former President Donald Trump in civil court in 2023 over alleged civil fraud, accusing Trump, his children and business of vastly overstating property values in order to obtain favorable loans and credits.

While the president and his entity were convicted at a bench trial, a mid-level appeals court in New York threw out many of the high financial penalties they faced.

The state Court of Claims handles civil cases involving plaintiffs seeking damages from the State of New York or related agencies. Those cases may involve personal injuries, breach of contract, medical malpractice, unjust imprisonment, or property appropriation. 

“Our judicial system works best when we have talented, qualified jurists on the bench,” said Hochul, who made 28 appointments to the Court of Claims and state Supreme Court. “These nominees bring the expertise, experience and judgment necessary to uphold the rule of law, and they will be instrumental in ensuring justice is administered fairly and impartially throughout New York.”

Also appointed to the state Court of Claims from New York City are Judge Fiordaliza Rodriguez of the Bronx, a Family Court judge, Danielle Eaddy of Brooklyn, currently the bureau chief of a trial bureau at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office,

Rodriguez joins the Court of Claims from the Family Court, where she has served in 2015, handling child protection cases. She has more than a quarter-century of legal experience and previously served as a court attorney referee in Family Court, as well as an assigned counsel panel attorney and a private practitioner. 

Eaddy joins the bench from the Kings County DA’s office, where she has served much of her more than three decades in law. She served the DA’s office in a variety of capacities, including as deputy bureau chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau, deputy bureau chief of the Grand Jury Division, and supervising trial attorney of a trial zone. 

Along with the new appointments to the Court of Claims, Hochul also renewed the terms of five other New York City judges already within the court:

Hon. Alexander Jeong of the Richmond County (Staten Island) Criminal Term.
Hon. Charles Troia, who presides over a Guardianship Part, a Civil Case Management Part, a Civil Mental Hygiene Part and a Medical Malpractice Part in Richmond County (Staten Island). 
Hon. Daniel Conviser, who is also an acting New York State Supreme Court Justice who sits in the criminal term of the Manhattan Supreme Court. 
Hon. Jeanette Rodriguez-Morick of Manhattan, who presides over claims against the state in the Bronx and is a designated acting Supreme Court Justice over felony matters in the New York State Supreme Court, Bronx County, Criminal Division. 
Hon. Michele Rodney, who joined the Court of Claims and currently serves on the Advisory Committee of Judicial Ethics and the ADA Advisory Committee of the New York State Unified Court System and chairs the Equal Justice Committee for the First Judicial District.

Hochul also appointed two new interim Justices of the Supreme Court from New York City. 

They include Hon. Joseph Risi of Queens, who has been an acting Supreme Court justice for the civil term in Queens since 2017. He currently presides over parts involving trial scheduling, tax certiorari and the commercial division.

Also appointed from New York City is interim Supreme Court Justice Tandra L. Dawson, who has presided over Manhattan’s Integrated Domestic Violence Court since 2007, handling cases related to criminal, matrimonial, and family court.