MARY HOLT
v.
WILLIAM NELSON

Fla. 6th DCA | 2024-06-17
No. 2024-0966
Traver, C.J., Brownlee, J., Lambert, B.D.
2024 FL 7122 Florida District Court of Appeal, Sixth District (2024)

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Holding

A motion to disqualify a trial judge is not moot merely because it is filed during ongoing proceedings, and a judge's effort to refute facts alleged in a disqualification motion compels disqualification.


Headnotes

[1] A motion to disqualify a trial judge filed during the pendency of proceedings is not rendered moot by the mere continuation of the case, and a judge's response attempting…

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Facts & Procedural History

Mary Holt filed a motion to disqualify the trial judge presiding over her case. The trial judge denied the motion as moot and attempted to refute some…

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Opinion of the Court
Petition Granted. Traver

SIXTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

STATE OF FLORIDA

_____________________________

Case No. 6D24-966 Lower Tribunal No. 2020-CA-005088-O _____________________________

MARY HOLT, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM NELSON, Respondent. _____________________________

Petition for Writ of Prohibition to the Circuit Court for Orange County.

June 17, 2024

PER CURIAM.

We grant Mary Holt’s petition for writ of prohibition that sought review of the order denying, as moot, her motion to disqualify the trial judge who was presiding over the proceedings below at the time the motion and the instant petition were filed. See Pilkington v. Pilkington, 182 So. 3d 776, 778 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015). The motion was not moot, and the judge’s effort in his order to thereafter refute some

2

of the facts alleged in the motion compels disqualification. See Brinson v. State, 789 So. 2d 1125, 1126 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001).1

PETITION GRANTED.

TRAVER, C.J., and BROWNLEE, J., and LAMBERT, B.D., Associate Judge, concur.

Ryan Christopher Rodems, of Morgan & Morgan, P.A., Orlando, for Petitioner.

Ashley R. Leasure, Jeremy T. Palma, Aaron E. Eagan, and Paula S. Morrell, of Rissman, Barrett, Hurt, Donahue, McLain & Mangan, P.A., Orlando, for Respondent.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING

AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF TIMELY FILED

Footnotes
1 To be clear, we specifically take no position as to whether the motion was legally sufficient under Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.330(c) for the disqualification of the trial judge. We also note that the trial judge in question has now rotated out of the civil division where this case was tried.

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