Opinion ID: 1652426
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Marjorie Gachot and Judge John Harkey

Text: The final basis asserted by Ms. Skokos for Chancellor Gray's recusal is a communication made by the Chancellor's court reporter, Marjorie Gachot, to the Honorable John Harkey, of Batesville, a chancellor in a separate judicial district. Ms. Skokos's counsel alleged the communication demonstrated that the Chancellor was conducting an investigation of Bob Robinson, one of her lawyers, and that bias against her and her counsel was thus apparent. A motion for recusal was filed on February 6, 1995, attaching an affidavit from Judge Harkey. We affirm on this point. There was considerable skirmishing over the holding of a hearing on the motion. Ms. Skokos's counsel wanted the hearing to be held with Judge Harkey's testimony being taken by telephone. Counsel for Mr. Skokos insisted on having Judge Harkey present in the courtroom for cross-examination. Counsel for Ms. Skokos sought a continuance, which was not granted, for that purpose. He also attempted to have Chancellor Gray testify under oath. A hearing was held during which Mr. Robinson read from Judge Harkey's affidavit to the effect that Chancellor Gray's court reporter, Marjorie Gachot, had called to speak with Judge Harkey's court reporter and, upon learning that she was unavailable, spoke with Judge Harkey. Ms. Gachot allegedly asked about Mr. Robinson's conduct in Judge Harkey's court, suggesting that Mr. Robinson's conduct had been a problem. Ms. Gachot testified at the hearing that she had been a court reporter since 1967 and had worked with Chancellor Gray for two years. She said she had indeed called to speak with Judge Harkey's court reporter and that her conversation with Judge Harkey had lasted less than a minute. She said she asked only if Mr. Robinson had been in Judge Harkey's court. She insisted she did not tell Judge Harkey about rumors she had heard about Mr. Robinson's conduct before him. She said Chancellor Gray had been made aware she was going to call and that she had made the call out of curiosity because she had been concerned about Mr. Robinson's behavior before Chancellor Gray and thought she might help solve the problem. She insisted that the affidavit of Judge Harkey was not correct in its statement that she impugned the conduct of Mr. Robinson. The Chancellor again refused to recuse, and in her order she declared that Mr. Robinson was not being investigated by her or by her staff. She pointed out that, even if she had personally called Judge Harkey to discuss the matter of conduct of counsel, that would have been permissible in accordance with the Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 3, § 7(c). We decline to reverse the Chancellor's decision not to recuse. The decision was, again, a discretionary one, and we cannot say the record demonstrates that the Chancellor was biased toward Ms. Skokos or her counsel. In closing, we note that, after Chancellor Gray's recusal, Chancellor Jim R. Hannah was assigned to the case. Chancellor Hannah's assignment to this case will continue upon remand. Affirmed in part; reversed in part, and remanded. JIM BURNETT, TED N. DRAKE, SEARCY W. HARRELL, Jr., and LYNN WILLIAMS, Special Justices, join in this opinion. GLAZE, CORBIN, BROWN and IMBER, JJ., not participating. Pamela F. Skokos, the appellant, and Theodore C. Skokos, the appellee, each have filed a petition for rehearing following our decision in Skokos v. Skokos, 332 Ark. 520, 968 S.W.2d 26 (1998). The parties seek to clarify whether, upon remand, the Chancellor should redetermine the fair market value of their shares in the Little Rock Cellular Partnership (the Little Rock company) in addition to the value of their shares in Atlantic Cellular/New Hampshire RSA One, Limited Partnership (the New Hampshire company). In a separate motion, Ms. Skokos asks for her costs and attorney's fees on appeal. We grant Ms. Skokos's petition for rehearing and hold that the Chancellor shall redetermine the value of the parties' shares in both cellular-telephone companies. We deny Ms. Skokos's motion for costs and attorney's fees.