PAUL A. DUCRE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Quasi-Judicial Officers cases and more on FLexlaw
CASANUEVA, Judge.
Mr. Ducre appeals an order in this child support collection case requiring him to pay arrearages. Although we find no error and affirm, one of Mr. Ducre’s concerns merits a cautionary comment.
Mr. Ducre had two motions scheduled for consideration by a court-appointed hearing officer. He alleges that immediately prior to the hearing the hearing officer was secluded behind closed doors with opposing counsel. While there is no record to support this assertion, we hasten to point out that, as quasi-judicial officers, hearing officers must avoid ex parte meetings with counsel and should avoid even the appearance of improper conduct. Whether appearing before a hearing officer or the court, a litigant should have the same confidence in the impartiality of the fact-finder. Affirmed.
PATTERSON, C.J., and ALTENBERND, J., Concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Dep't of Hwy. Safety & Motor Vehicles v. Pitts, 815 So. 2d 738 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002)…airness is intolerably high”). The circuit court below determined that the hearing officer departed from her role as a neutral and detached magistrate and faded to preserve the impression of impartiality to which Pitts was entitled. Ducre v. State, 768 So. 2d 1159 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000)(“Whether appearing before a hearing officer or the court, a litigant should have the same confidence in the impartiality of the fact-finder”). While certainly the hearing officer may question witnesses to clear up the evidence, th…
-
State v. Griffin, 909 So. 2d 538 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)…1990)(judge must leave the impression of impartiality upon all who appear before the court). A litigant is entitled to have confidence that the hearing officer before whom he or she appears is acting impartially as a fact-finder. See Ducre v. State, 768 So. 2d 1159 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000). While we see no constitutional infirmity in non-lawyers serving as hearing officers under section 322.2615, we do strongly caution those hearing officers that they must take extraordinary care to be as impartial and neutral as th…
-
Wesby v. State, 230 So. 3d 939 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017)…had been disclosed and testified that Mr. Wes-by was not present at the October 9 transaction, the credibility of the detective would have been undermined as to the subsequent transactions. This court faced a similar fact pattern in McLoyd v. State, 768 So. 2d 1159, 1160 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000), where a law enforcement officer used a Cl to set up' a controlled buy with the defendant, Jimmy McLoyd. The officer obtained Mr.' McLoyd’s contact information and set up a second buy, this time without the assistance of the…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence