Opinion ID: 709238
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pierce's Past Business Association

Text: 41 Stivers contends that Pierce's relationship with Russ Jones and Associates during the 1970's rendered his participation in the decision to deny Stivers' applications constitutionally objectionable. We take as true the plaintiffs' charge that, upon Pierce's tumultuous departure from Russ Jones and Associates, he threatened to run the company out of business. Stivers contends that this statement reveals that Pierce had a bias against Russ Jones and Associates and that he should have recused himself from participating in the licensing proceedings for this reason. 42 We agree that unconstitutional bias may be shown through evidence that the adjudicator had it 'in' for the party for reasons unrelated to the officer's view of the law. McLaughlin v. Union Oil of Calif., 869 F.2d 1039, 1047 (7th Cir.1989). However, we do not believe that the particular inference that plaintiffs would have us draw is warranted. A number of years after Pierce's departure from Russ Jones and Associates, the company was sold to Tamblyn, who in turn sold the company's assets to Stivers and Ernsberger years later. While it might be reasonable to conclude that Pierce harbored a personal grudge against Jones, there is no rational basis for concluding that he retained a bias against the corporation that Jones had previously owned, particularly since Jones had sold it to a disinterested third party a number of years earlier. Pierce's past association with Russ Jones and Associates is wholly insufficient to overcome the presumption of honesty and integrity in those serving as adjudicators. Withrow, 421 U.S. at 47, 95 S.Ct. at 1464. Because the dispute between Pierce and the former owner of Russ Jones and Associates is so far removed from the events at issue in this case, we conclude as a matter of law that they have no relevance to the question whether the denial of the plaintiffs' license applications violated due process.