Kopel v. Kopel, 3D02-983.
Decision Date | 22 May 2002 |
Docket Number | No. 3D02-983.,3D02-983. |
Citation | 832 So.2d 108 |
Parties | Leon KOPEL, Petitioner, v. Bernardo KOPEL, et al., Respondents. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Specially Concurring Opinion on Denial of Rehearing December 11, 2002.
Law Offices of Paul Morris, and Paul Morris, and Josephs, Jack, Miranda, McCulough & McKeown, and Stephanie E. Demos, for petitioner.
Heller and Kaplan, and Daniel Neal Heller, for respondent.
Before COPE, SHEVIN, and RAMIREZ, JJ.
Specially Concurring Opinion on Denial of Rehearing En Banc December 11, 2002.
Leon Kopel petitions for a writ of prohibition to prevent the trial court judge from presiding over the case after denying his motion for disqualification. We find that the motion for disqualification should have been granted because the trial court judge's comments could indicate that she had predetermined certain factual issues, and thus the petitioner's fear of partiality is reasonable. See Southeast Bank v. Capua, 584 So.2d 101 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)
. We therefore grant the petition, but are confident it will be unnecessary to formally issue the writ.
Before COPE, SHEVIN and RAMIREZ, JJ.
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
The motion for rehearing is denied.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and JORGENSON, COPE, LEVY, GERSTEN, GODERICH, GREEN, FLETCHER, SHEVIN, RAMIREZ, JJ.
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING EN BANC
The motion for rehearing en banc is denied.
I agree that this case is inappropriate for en banc consideration. I wish, however, to reflect upon the important question which it may present as to whether the "potted palm" or "Mount Rushmore" view of the proper role of the trial judge in the administration of Florida justice should prevail.
825 So.2d at 438; Vivas v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 789 So.2d 1252 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001); Don King Productions, Inc. v. Chavez, 768 So.2d 538 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000); Begens v. Olschewski, 743 So.2d 133 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999); Roy v. Roy, 687 So.2d 956 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997).
Even more, I am concerned with the growing acceptance of the view that trial judges are there only to referee and, rather than to do justice, to avoid error. See Perriman v. State, 731 So.2d 1243 (Fla. 1999)
(. ) Compare Borden, Inc. v. Young, 479 So.2d 850, 851 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985) (), review denied, 488 So.2d 832 (Fla.1986) with Murphy v. International Robotics Sys., Inc., 766 So.2d 1010 (Fla.2000); see Murphy, at 1032 (Parienti, J., concurring specially); Telemundo Network, Inc. v. Spanish Television Servs., Inc., 812 So.2d 461 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002) (Sorondo, J., concurring), review dismissed, 831 So.2d 673 (Fla. Case no. SC02-1133, October 22, 2002). The task of the courts is too important, indeed too sacred, to be left to...
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...of appeal legal potted palms powerless to review and correct manifest errors of law and policy. Cf. Kopel v. Kopel, 832 So.2d 108, 108 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)(specially concurring opinion), review denied, 848 So.2d 1154 ...
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