GONZALO BOUQUET
v.
JOANNA JONES

Fla. 3d DCA | 2025-04-04
No. 2025-0585
Miller, J., Fernandez, J., Lindsey, J.
2025 FL 2925 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2025)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

Adverse rulings alone, without evidence of bias or prejudice, do not support judicial disqualification, and a trial court's exercise of reasonable control over witness presentation and evidence does not constitute grounds for disqualification.


Headnotes

[1] Adverse judicial rulings, standing alone without evidence of actual bias or prejudice, are insufficient to support a motion for judicial disqualification.

[2] A trial court's exercise of reasonable control over the mode and order of witness interrogation and evidence presentation, including requiring in-person testimony, does n…

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Key Quotes

“[A]dverse rulings, without more, do not constitute the requisite bias or prejudice necessary to support disqualification.”

Court's statement of applicable law regarding judicial disqualification standards

Facts & Procedural History

Gonzalo Bouquet sought a writ of prohibition to disqualify two trial judges in a child custody case and void their orders. Bouquet's disqualification …

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Opinion of the Court
Miller

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed April 4, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D25-0585 Lower Tribunal No. 22-20009-FC-04 ________________

Gonzalo Bouquet, Petitioner,

vs.

Joanna Jones, Respondent.

A Case of Original Jurisdiction – Prohibition.

Gonzalo Bouquet, in proper person.

Filler Rodriguez, LLP, and Catherine M. Rodriguez, for respondent.

Before FERNANDEZ, LINDSEY, and MILLER, JJ.

MILLER, J.

Footnotes
2 In this contentious child custody dispute, petitioner, Gonzalo Bouquet, seeks a writ of prohibition to prevent the assigned trial judge and the predecessor judge from further presiding over his case and void several previously rendered orders. Both trial judges deemed the respective disqualification motions legally insufficient. Having reviewed the motions, we are compelled to agree. Petitioner cites only a series of adverse rulings and a requirement that certain participants in the proceedings appear live in person, rather than remotely via the Zoom videoconferencing platform. “[A]dverse rulings, without more, do not constitute the requisite bias or prejudice necessary to support disqualification.” See John Young Song v. State, 338 So. 3d 984, 984 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022). Further, it is within the domain of the trial court to “exercise reasonable control over the mode and order of the interrogation of witnesses and the presentation of evidence, so as to . . . [f]acilitate, through effective interrogation and presentation, the discovery of the truth.” § 90.612(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2025); see also Ketterson v. Est. of Bruns, 711 So. 2d 613, 614 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998). As to the request to void orders, we reiterate that a writ of prohibition is preventative, not corrective, and may not be used as a substitute for appeal. Chaviano v. Greater Mia. Caterers, Inc., 254 So. 3d 1047, 1048 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018). Petition denied.

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