Bower v. Morden
| Decision Date | 29 August 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 21082,21082 |
| Citation | 126 Idaho 215,880 P.2d 245 |
| Parties | Greg H. BOWER, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross Respondent, v. Honorable Thomas R. MORDEN, Magistrate Judge, Defendant-Respondent-Cross Appellant. Boise, May 1994 Term |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Greg H. Bower, Ada County Pros. Atty., and Cary B. Colaianni, Deputy Ada County Pros. Atty., Boise, for appellant. Cary B. Colaianni argued.
Larry EchoHawk, Atty. Gen., David G. High, Deputy Atty. Gen., and Steven F. Scanlin, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for respondent. Steven F. Scanlin argued.
In this case we are asked to decide if the right to judicial disqualification without cause under I.C.R. 25(a) may be limited due to the number of cases in which a party exercises the right against an individual judge. We hold that it may not, and that in this case the writs of prohibition and mandate are available as remedies to enforce the right.
Plaintiff - Appellant - Cross - Respondent, Greg H. Bower, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney (Bower), appeals from a district court ruling denying his request for a writ of mandate and writ of prohibition to prevent Defendant-Respondent-Cross-Appellant, the Honorable Thomas R. Morden, Magistrate Judge (Judge Morden), from denying Bower's motions to disqualify Judge Morden. Bower also appeals from the declaratory judgment ruling of the district court which declared the prospective rights of the parties. Judge Morden cross-appeals from the declaratory judgment ruling.
During the summer of 1993, deputy prosecuting attorneys employed by Bower expressed their dissatisfaction with Judge Morden to Bower, based on their perception that Judge Morden was biased against the office of the prosecutor. In August of 1993, Bower instituted a policy of having his deputies file motions for automatic disqualification of Judge Morden pursuant to I.C.R. 25(a) in all criminal cases. Judge Morden initially granted such motions, but ultimately began issuing identical blanket denials of Bower's motions in all cases. In each case, Judge Morden stated that the motion was denied because, pursuant to I.C.R. 25(a), it had been brought for the purpose of "hindering, delaying, or obstructing the administration of justice."
Bower sought a writ of mandate and writ of prohibition against Judge Morden. After preliminary proceedings, 1 a trial was held on Bower's request for the writs.
At trial, several of Bower's deputies testified that they believed Judge Morden was biased. The Ada County Public Defender and a private attorney both testified that they thought Judge Morden had a professional demeanor and delivered consistent rulings. Other evidence at trial established that Judge Morden had denied well over one hundred disqualification motions since Bower initiated his policy and that Bower had not sought an appeal from any of these rulings. Additionally, Bower had not sought a writ of prohibition or writ of mandate with reference to a refusal to grant a disqualification motion in any particular pending criminal case. Although there was evidence of some administrative delay caused by the number of motions and the attendant reassignments during those periods when the motions had been granted (before Judge Morden began denying the motions), there was no evidence which established that any individual disqualification motion caused, or would cause, delay disproportionate to that normally associated with reassignment of an individual case after a disqualification motion.
The district court denied the request for the writs, concluding that Bower's blanket motions were designed to hinder, delay or obstruct the administration of justice because they were designed to influence Judge Morden's rulings. The district court also held that Bower was not entitled to relief in the form of a writ of mandate or writ of prohibition, both because he had failed to exhaust his remedies at law and because the writs were not appropriate to constrain a discretionary function such as deciding whether or not a disqualification motion was brought to hinder, delay or obstruct the administration of justice.
The district court further concluded that Judge Morden had abused his discretion by responding to the blanket motions with a blanket denial instead of considering each case independently. The district court entered declaratory judgment allowing Bower only to file motions to disqualify Judge Morden in future "selected cases for perceived bias."
Idaho Criminal Rule 25(a) provides, in relevant part, as follows:
(a) Disqualification of judge without cause. In all criminal actions, the parties shall each have the right to one disqualification without cause of the judge or magistrate, except as herein provided, under the following conditions and procedures:
(1) Motion to disqualify. In any criminal action in the district court or the magistrate's division thereof, any party may disqualify one (1) judge or magistrate by filing a motion for disqualification without cause, which shall not require the stating of any grounds therefor, and the granting of such motion for disqualification without cause, if timely, shall be granted. Each party in a felony prosecution shall have one (1) disqualification without cause under this Rule as to the magistrate appointed to hear the preliminary hearing and another disqualification without cause as to the district judge appointed to hear the trial of the action. A motion for disqualification without cause shall not be made under this Rule to hinder, delay or obstruct the administration of justice.
(2) Time for filing. A motion for disqualification without cause must be filed not later than seven (7) days after service of a written notice setting the action for status conference, pre-trial conference, trial or for hearing on the first contested Prior to its amendment in 1982, the rule did not contain the language that prohibits filing a motion to "hinder, delay or obstruct the administration of justice." That language was adopted from the corollary civil rule, I.R.C.P. 40(d)(1). This Court has never before been called upon to decide, under either the civil or criminal rule, whether a writ of prohibition or writ of mandate may issue against a judge who denies a motion for disqualification as being one brought to "hinder, delay or obstruct the administration of justice."
[126 Idaho 218] motion, or not later than fourteen (14) days after service of a written notice specifying who the presiding judge or magistrate to the action will be, whichever occurs first; and such motion must be filed before the commencement of a status conference, a pre-trial conference, a contested proceeding or trial in the action.
The statutory authority for a writ of mandate, I.C. § 7-302, provides:
It may be issued by any court except a justice's or probate court, to any inferior tribunal, corporation, board or person, to compel the performance of an act which the law especially enjoins as a duty resulting from an office, trust or station; or to compel the admission of a party to the use and the enjoyment of a right or office to which he is entitled, and from which he is unlawfully precluded by such inferior tribunal, corporation, board or person.
The writ is only available in limited circumstances:
The writ must be issued in all cases where there is not a plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law. It must be issued upon affidavit, on the application of the party beneficially interested.
I.C. § 7-303. The writ of prohibition is substantially similar both in scope and limitation:
It may be issued by any court except probate or justice's courts, to an inferior tribunal, or to a corporation, board or person in all cases where there is not a plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law. It is issued upon affidavit on the application of the person beneficially interested.
The writ of prohibition is the counterpart of the writ of mandate. It arrests the proceedings of any tribunal, corporation, board or person, when such proceedings are without or in excess of the jurisdiction of such tribunal, corporation, board or person.
This Court has consistently held that "writs of mandate (and their counterpart, prohibition) will not issue to compel the performance of a purely discretionary function." Bopp v. City of Sandpoint, 110 Idaho 488, 490, 716 P.2d 1260, 1262 (1986) (citations omitted).
This Court has previously approved the use of writs against judges refusing to disqualify when the refusal to disqualify was not predicated on a discretionary decision. In Hultner-Wallner v. Featherstone, 48 Idaho 507, 283 P. 42 (1929), this Court said that a writ of prohibition was an appropriate mechanism when a judge refused to disqualify himself for cause despite a party's allegation that the judge had an interest in the outcome of the litigation by virtue of personal stockholdings in a corporation whose interests might have been affected by the litigation. The Court concluded that the writ would not interfere with the judge's discretion because "he had no discretion in the matter" and was disqualified as a matter of law without regard to the judge's subjective beliefs about his ability to remain impartial. Id., at 512, 283 P. at 43-43. Likewise, in Price v. Featherstone, 64 Idaho 312, 130 P.2d 853 (1942), this Court in an original proceeding issued a writ of review against a judge who had denied a motion for disqualification because he thought a motion to disqualify was not available in a divorce modification proceeding. This Court vacated the judge's orders, not because he had abused his discretion, but...
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Bergeron v. O'neil, 2 CA-SA 2003-0053
...resulting in delay, and would contravene the fundamental policies" underlying the change-of-judge statute); Bower v. Morden, 880 P.2d 245, 249 (Idaho 1994) ("There is no discretionary act involved in ruling upon a motion under [change-of-judge rule] because any motion brought in conformity ......
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State v. District Court
...demanded, and will not lie to coerce or control discretion of the district court.") (internal citations omitted); Bower v. Morden, 126 Idaho 215, 218, 880 P.2d 245, 248 (1994) ("This Court has consistently held that `writs of mandate (and their counterpart, prohibition) will not issue to co......
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...writs of mandate and prohibition will not issue to compel the performance of a purely discretionary function. Bower v. Morden , 126 Idaho 215, 218, 880 P.2d 245, 248 (1994) ; see also State v. Dist. Ct. of Fourth Jud. Dist. , 143 Idaho 695, 700, 152 P.3d 566, 571 (2007) (Matters which fall ......
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Bergeron ex rel. Perez v. O'NEIL, No. 2 CA-SA 2003-0053
...resulting in delay, and would contravene the fundamental policies" underlying the change-of-judge statute); Bower v. Morden, 126 Idaho 215, 880 P.2d 245, 249 (1994) ("There is no discretionary act involved in ruling upon a motion under [change-of-judge rule] because any motion brought in co......