Opinion ID: 1162726
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the motion to disqualify

Text: Nevada Supreme Court JUSTICE CHARLES E. SPRINGER sat as a member of the commission in this matter. At the commencement of the probable cause proceedings, Justice Springer made the following statement on the record: I would like the record to reflect that I communicated with Mr. Cobeaga and told him that because I have been [a] political adversary, for lack of a better expression, of Judge Goldman, that I offered to disqualify myself voluntarily, without cause. And I was advised by Mr. Cobeaga that I would not be challenged and that Judge Goldman had no objection to my serving on the Commission in his case. And I just wanted that to be a matter of record. In response, appellant's counsel Mr. Cobeaga confirmed, That's correct, Your Honor. Notwithstanding appellant's rejection of JUSTICE SPRINGER'S offer to remove himself from the commission, one week prior to the scheduled formal hearing, appellant moved the commission to disqualify JUSTICE SPRINGER from further participation in the proceedings. Appellant asserted that new information had come to his attention, after he initially assented to JUSTICE SPRINGER'S participation, which revealed that in October of 1986, JUSTICE STEFFEN had conducted an inquiry on behalf of this court into appellant's behavior on the bench. At the formal hearing, the special prosecutor opposed appellant's motion and read a statement from JUSTICE SPRINGER into the record. The statement explained that JUSTICE SPRINGER was not biased, that he harbored no ill will nor ill feelings against Judge Goldman, and that he felt he could sit impartially in this matter. Further, JUSTICE SPRINGER explained that he had played no role in JUSTICE STEFFEN'S initial tentative inquiry. The five other members of the commission subsequently denied appellant's motion. More specifically, the other commission members concluded as follows: At the outset of the hearing on June 12, 1987, [Judge Goldman] belatedly attempted to challenge the participation in the proceedings of a Commission member whose participation [Judge Goldman] had previously accepted and stipulated to. The five other members of the Commission voted unanimously to deny [Judge Goldman's] motion as tardy and without merit. However, the five other sitting members of the Commission, whose participation has not been challenged and who constitute a quorum to take action herein, have further determined that their deliberations and votes in this matter, as set forth herein, would be the same, and would have been the same without the participation and votes of the Commission member whom [Judge Goldman] belatedly attempted to challenge. On appeal, appellant contends that the commission's refusal to disqualify JUSTICE SPRINGER from the proceedings constitutes prejudicial error. Appellant alleges that, at the time he initially rejected JUSTICE SPRINGER'S offer of recusal, he was unaware that JUSTICE STEFFEN, on behalf of the supreme court, had conducted an investigation into appellant's fitness to remain on the bench. Further, appellant asserts that his knowledge of the supreme court's role was radically altered by new information he received on May 4, 1987, well after he agreed to JUSTICE SPRINGER'S participation, when he first became aware of information contained in a Certificate In Lieu of Record, authored by JUSTICE STEFFEN. Appellant maintains that the certificate revealed to him for the first time that this court had conducted an administrative inquiry into his behavior. See Goldman v. Bryan, 104 Nev. 644, 764 P.2d 1296 (1988). Thus, appellant maintains, he initially assented to JUSTICE SPRINGER'S participation only because he had no knowledge of the facts detailing the extent of the supreme court's inquiry into his fitness. Appellant also argues that the facts revealed by the certificate raise an appearance of partiality in the mind of a reasonable observer sufficient to require JUSTICE SPRINGER'S disqualification from the commission under Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 3C(1)(a). [39] We disagree. First, as the special prosecutor observes, JUSTICE STEFFEN'S certificate indicates that, as early as October 16, 1986, two of appellant's counsel knew that JUSTICE STEFFEN was investigating, on behalf of the supreme court, events that had become public knowledge bearing on appellant's fitness to remain on the bench. Further, on March 30, 1987, appellant's counsel specifically confirmed on the record that appellant had no objection to JUSTICE SPRINGER serving as a member of the commission in this case. Thus, the record establishes that, in October of 1986, appellant's counsel knew the facts subsequently asserted in support of the allegations contained in the motion to disqualify, and thereafter expressly waived any objections to JUSTICE SPRINGER'S participation. Moreover, appellant formally raised the allegations of impropriety only after learning of the outcome of the probable cause proceeding. Under these circumstances, we conclude that appellant waived his right to challenge JUSTICE SPRINGER'S participation on the commission. See Ainsworth v. Combined Ins. Co., 105 Nev. 237, 259-60, 774 P.2d 1003, 1019 (party waived right to raise allegations of bias where party's counsel knew the subsequently asserted factual basis for allegations and did not promptly tender an objection but remained silent and gambled on the outcome of the proceeding), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 958 (1989). Second, this court has previously rejected a similar challenge by appellant to JUSTICE STEFFEN'S participation in this very appeal. See Goldman v. Bryan, 104 Nev. 644, 764 P.2d 1296 (1988). Although JUSTICE SPRINGER was not the subject of the specific motion to disqualify resolved in that opinion, the court's reasoning nonetheless provides persuasive support for the conclusion that a motion for disqualification which is based upon the facts detailed in JUSTICE STEFFEN'S certificate does not raise legally cognizable grounds for JUSTICE SPRINGER'S disqualification from the commission. Nor does it constitute a disqualifying appearance of impropriety under the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct. If the facts revealed by JUSTICE STEFFEN'S certificate did not require his disqualification from participation in this appeal, neither can it be said to require JUSTICE SPRINGER'S disqualification from the commission. This is especially true in light of JUSTICE SPRINGER'S statement that he played no role in JUSTICE STEFFEN'S initial tentative inquiry. Third, it is clear from the commission's order that appellant suffered no prejudice whatsoever from JUSTICE SPRINGER'S participation, even assuming that some cause for disqualification or recusal existed. A duly constituted quorum of the commission stated specifically that its deliberations and votes in this matter would be and would have been the same even without the voting participation of JUSTICE SPRINGER. Accordingly, we reject appellant's contentions of prejudicial error as wholly without merit.