Kelly v. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co.
Decision Date | 05 March 1956 |
Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 54-760. |
Citation | 139 F. Supp. 319 |
Parties | David W. KELLY v. NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
William H. Lewis, Jr., Boston, Mass., for plaintiff.
William J. Noonan, Boston, Mass., for defendant.
Plaintiff, following a trial before me, a jury verdict in his favor, and my allowance of defendant's motion for new trial, D.C., 138 F.Supp. 82, has filed an affidavit of "Bias and/or Prejudice of the Trial Judge." The affidavit is thirteen pages long. It consists, outside of quotations from evidence, exhibits, and statements of counsel, and conclusions and opinions of the affiant, of rulings the court proposed to make, rulings it did make, statements by the court either on the record, or at the bench, or in the lobby during the course of the trial in connection therewith, and quotations from the opinion allowing the motion for new trial.
If plaintiff can disqualify the trial court for claimed bias and prejudice based on rulings during the trial, so can defendant, against whom a number of rulings were also made, including a refusal to direct a verdict. Cf. Craven v. United States, 1 Cir., 22 F.2d 605, certiorari denied 276 U.S. 627, 48 S.Ct. 321, 72 L.Ed. 739. It is not intended that a judge may preside over a retrial only by the grace of the parties. The matters alleged in the affidavit are entirely insufficient to...
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Kennedy v. Justice of Dist. Court of Dukes County
...party by the petitioners as a method of seeking review of the orders. This is not enough to disqualify him. Kelly v. New York, N.H. & H.R.R., 139 F.Supp. 319, 320 (D.C.Mass.). The petitioners also argue that disqualification will avoid bias or the appearance of bias. An earlier expression o......