While a divorce case was pending, the judge overseeing the case sent the wife a Facebook friend request. The wife did not accept the request. Thereafter, the judge entered a final judgment that was more favorable to the husband. After the wife found out about other cases in which the judge had reached out to litigants through social media, she filed a motion to disqualify the judge. The judge refused to disqualify herself.
The wife sought review with the appellate court. On appeal, the court reversed and remanded, holding that the judge should have disqualified herself:
The “friend” request placed the litigant between the proverbial rock and a hard place: either engage in improper ex parte communications with the judge presiding over the case or risk offending the judge by not accepting the “friend” request.
Moreover, the court found the problem of friending a party in a pending case “of far more concern” than a judge’s Facebook friendship with a lawyer. Forbidding judges and counsel to be Facebook friends, especially in smaller counties with tight-knit legal communities, would be unworkable. But with a friend request from the judge, a party has a “well founded fear” of not receiving a fair and impartial trial.
Chace v. Loisel, — So.3d —, 2014 WL 258620 (Fla.App. 5 Dist. January 24, 2014)