Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal has decided that a Facebook friendship doesn’t necessarily signify a close relationship warranting automatic disqualification of a judge.
The decision allows Miami-Dade Judge Beatrice Butchko to remain on a case in which she is a Facebook “friend” with a lawyer representing a potential witness and potential party in the pending litigation.
In the decision, the court notes its disagreement with another Florida appeals court. In a 2012 decision, the Fifth District Court of Appeal held that a judge had to disqualify himself because he was Facebook friends with the prosecutor.
In its decision, the Third District Court of Appeal emphasized that “some of a member’s Facebook ‘friends’ are undoubtedly friends in the classic sense” and that a relationship between a judge and a lawyer may, under certain circumstances, warrant disqualification. But, the court noted, “[a]n assumption that all Facebook ‘friends’ rise to the level of a close relationship that warrants disqualification simply does not reflect the current nature of this type of electronic social networking.”
Read the full opinion here.
