Stevens v. Morris Communications Corp., 68113
| Decision Date | 02 April 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 68113,68113 |
| Citation | 317 S.E.2d 652,170 Ga.App. 612 |
| Parties | , 10 Media L. Rep. 1735 STEVENS v. MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, et al. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Lucinda Stevens, pro se.
David E. Hudson, Augusta, Harold B. Wahl, Jacksonville, Fla., for appellees.
It appears that on January 22, 1983, an article written by the appellee Susan Respess appeared in the Florida Times Union, a newspaper owned by the appellee Morris Communications Corporation. The article briefly summarized the events at a recent meeting of the St. Marys, Georgia, City Council. Members of the Gillman Hospital Authority, which owned and managed St. Marys Convalescent Center, had appeared at the meeting to discuss the problems of maintenance and disrepair at the convalescent center. Towards its conclusion, the article indicated that "[t]he authority's attorney is Lucinda Stevens."
Lucinda Stevens, the appellant here, then commenced this libel action against the appellees, alleging that the article had defamed her by implying her responsibility for the convalescent center's problems. The appellees moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim and because the publication as a matter of law was not libelous. Immediately before the hearing on the motion to dismiss, the appellant moved for the trial judge to recuse himself. No affidavit to support the motion was submitted. From the trial court's denial of that motion to disqualify and grant of the appellees' motion to dismiss, Lucinda Stevens appeals. Held:
The appellant contends that the trial court erred in not getting another judge to hear and determine the motion to disqualify. The Supreme Court has held "the federal rule on motions to recuse [28 U.S.C.A. § 144] to be the most acceptable, that is, when a trial judge in a case pending in that court is presented with a motion to recuse accompanied by an affidavit, the judge's duty will be limited to passing upon the legal sufficiency of the affidavit, and if, assuming all the facts alleged in the affidavit to be true, recusal would be warranted, then another judge must be assigned to hear the motion to recuse." State v. Fleming, 245 Ga. 700, 702, 267 S.E.2d 207 (1980) (Emphasis supplied).
The federal rule also provides that "[t]he affidavit shall state the facts and the reasons for the belief that bias or prejudice exists, and shall be filed not less than ten days before the beginning of the term at which the proceeding is to be heard, or good cause shall be shown for failure to file it within such time." 28 U.S.C.A. § 144. An affidavit is insufficient if it contains mere...
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Willis v. United Family Life Ins.
...did not occur here, does not constitute defamation, and such a complaint is subject to dismissal. Stevens v. Morris Communications Corp., 170 Ga.App. 612, 614, 317 S.E.2d 652 (1984). In Stevens, this Court affirmed dismissal of a "patently absurd" complaint alleging that plaintiff was defam......
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Patterson v. Butler
...supra; Birt, supra at (3) and (4). Compare Bouldin v. State, 179 Ga.App. 394(2), 346 S.E.2d 871 (1986); Stevens v. Morris Communications Corp., 170 Ga.App. 612, 317 S.E.2d 652 (1984). If "[t]he fact that a judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned is sufficient for disqualificatio......
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Butler v. Biven Software, Inc.
...The affidavit must show facts which indicate "the judge's personal (rather than judicial) bias." Stevens v. Morris Communications Corp., 170 Ga.App. 612, 613, 317 S.E.2d 652 (1984). It cites United States v. Bray, 546 F.2d 851 (10th Cir.1976), as applicable because the Supreme Court had ado......