Crown Leasing Corp. v. Johnson-Allen, Civ. A. No. 87-367.
| Decision Date | 11 February 1987 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 87-367. |
| Citation | 70 BR 350 |
| Parties | CROWN LEASING CORPORATION, Petitioner, v. Lorraine JOHNSON-ALLEN, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Arthur Pressman, Philadelphia, Pa., for petitioner.
Gary L. Klein, Philadelphia, Pa., for respondents.
The petitioner, Crown Leasing Corporation, seeks a writ of mandamus or a writ of prohibition to require a bankruptcy judge to recuse in an adversary proceeding, and to reassign the case to another judge.
The factual background may be briefly summarized: Lorraine Johnson-Allen is the debtor in a Chapter 13 proceeding originally pending before the Honorable William A. King, Bankruptcy Judge, now pending before his successor, the Honorable David Scholl, Bankruptcy Judge. She entered into a series of transactions for the lease-purchase of certain household appliances from the petitioner, Crown Leasing Corporation. Petitioner is listed as a creditor, and has filed claims, in the bankruptcy proceeding. Contending that all of the lease-purchase transactions were illegal in various respects, the debtor filed an adversary complaint against petitioner, seeking damages and other relief. Petitioner seeks to disqualify Judge Scholl from presiding over this adversary proceeding. In a carefully considered Opinion, 68 B.R. 812 (Bkrtcy.E.D.Pa.1987), Judge Scholl has determined that the affidavit in support of the motion for disqualification is insufficient under 28 U.S.C. § 144, and that, viewed objectively, the facts do not establish bias or the appearance of bias under 28 U.S.C. § 455.
Before ascending to the bench of the Bankruptcy Court, Judge Scholl was employed by the Lehigh Valley branch of Community Legal Services. In that position, he was a zealous advocate on behalf of consumers generally, and economically deprived consumers in particular. He was extensively involved in litigation against firms prominent in the "rent-to-own" industry. In 1984, on behalf of a class of consumer-plaintiffs, he filed suit against a class of "rent-to-own" defendants, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief to the effect that their practices and contracts violated various state and federal statutes, and should be enjoined. The lease-purchase agreements involved in that litigation were substantially identical to the lease-purchase agreements at issue in the pending adversary proceeding against the petitioner.
Quoting extensively from briefs submitted by Judge Scholl in the state litigation, petitioner argues that Judge Scholl has exhibited a bias against the entire industry, and cannot be expected to decide fairly the factual and legal issues involved in petitioner's case. If that were the only issue, I would readily agree with Judge Scholl: the fact that a judge advanced certain legal arguments in the course of representing clients before becoming a judge does not reflect bias, or cast doubt upon his/her impartiality, nor does it present the appearance of impropriety.
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