Friend Request Overruled

A tale as old as time: judge sends friend request to plaintiff; plaintiff denies friend request; judge issues adverse ruling to plaintiff; judge gets disqualified.

One would like to think judges would exercise a little more discretion in their social media habits, and for the most part, that's the case.  However, every now and then, there's an exception to prove the rule.

Today, we have Judge Linda Schoonover from Florida's 5th district.  Judge Schoonover was presiding over Sandra Chace's divorce proceeding.  Over the course of the trial, the Judge sent a friend request to Ms. Chace.  Her attorney advised her not to respond.  When it came time for the final decision, Judge Schoonover issued a ruling that Ms. Chace felt was highly unfavorable to her.  Ms. Chace then asked for Judge Schoonover to be disqualified, and the Florida District Court of Appeal agreed.

The Court of Appeal felt the Judge's friend request in the middle of a proceeding was an ex parte communication, which violates Florida's Code of Judicial Conduct and "has the ability to undermine the confidence in a judge's neutrality."

To be fair, attorneys can fall victim to social media misjudgment as well.  While prosecuuting People v. Armstrong in California, the trial judge ordered the state to produce its key witness for an interview with defense counsel.  Given the nature of the case and history of alleged crimes, the prosecutor was less than thrilled with the proposition.  Unfortunately, the prosecutor referred to the order to produce in this fashion: "After I spent the day trying to prevent my 13 year-old star witness from being kidnapper, I found out I am getting the Prosecutor of the Year award from the Victims Service Center."

The trial judge felt the prosecutor's comments created a "substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing" the matter and demonstrated "an incredible display of poor judgment."  Ultimately, the court found no prejudice, so no mistrial was declared.  The judge did admonish the prosecutor and felt strongly enough about it to write an opinion.  Moral of the story: be careful with flippant comments about work, especially on social media where it can be easily documented.