Court Opinion

ID: 9883789
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:19:19.252604+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:30.923679
License: Public Domain

FOLEY, Judge
(concurring specially).
I concur in the result reached here but feel obliged to comment on the propriety of the original trial judge voluntarily submitting an affidavit to support respondent in this matter. In reaching our decision, the affidavit played no part; it was not considered. By filing an affidavit to support respondent, the original trial judge took on the role of an advocate and engaged in pure speculation as to how he would have ruled if certain evidence had been submitted to him at the underlying action — a boundary line dispute.
Appellant had no reasonable opportunity to take the judge’s deposition or to meet the matters contained in his affidavit, nor could he. We were compelled to reject any consideration of the matters contained in the affidavit. Having voluntarily submitted an affidavit, it is abundantly clear that no subpoena was necessary to obtain the affidavit and yet, to maintain impartiality and the independence of the judiciary, that is the appropriate procedure in cases where it is proper for a judge to appear as a witness. Minn.Code Jud.Conduct, Canons 1, 3(c)(1) (1974).
The affidavit submitted by the original trial judge had a profound effect on the judge granting the summary judgment motion as is evident from the memorandum filed in support of the order. However well motivated the original trial judge may have been, he and all judges are reminded of Canon 2 of the Minnesota Code of Judicial Conduct, which states in part: “He should not lend the prestige of his office to advance the private interests of others * * Minn.Code Jud.Conduct, Canon 2(B). There is an extensive, well-annotated article on the subject of a judge as a wit*486ness in a cause not on trial before him. See Annotation, Judge as Witness in Cause Not on Trial Before Him, 86 Á.L.R. 3d 633 (1978).
The appearance of the original trial judge as a witness by affidavit in the subsequent action where he was not presiding, if not prejudicial to appellant, was perilously close to being so. Were it not for the fact that this matter can be resolved without reference to the affidavit of the original trial judge, we would be compelled to reverse. There were no special circumstances necessitating an affidavit by the original trial judge in support of respondent, and no affidavit should have been submitted.