Court Opinion

ID: 9543600
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:46:58.692631+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:39.787286
License: Public Domain

*259HOWE, Associate Chief Justice
(dissenting):
I dissent on two grounds. First, Reic-hert has not shown that his objection to the participation of Judge Billings was made timely, and second, assuming Judge Billings should have recused herself under the canons of judicial conduct, her failure to do so should not ipso facto work a setting aside of the decision of the court of appeals.
I. OBJECTION NOT TIMELY RAISED
As the majority opinion points out, “[Tjhis case comes before us in an unusual procedural posture.” No objection was raised to the participation of Judge Billings when the case was orally argued before a panel which included her in the court of appeals. No objection was raised when an opinion was handed down on November 24, 1989, or in Reichert’s petition for a writ of certiorari filed with this court on January 23, 1990. It was not until April 10, 1990, that the objection was first raised by Reic-hert in a reply brief to Regional Sales Agency’s (RSA) brief which had been filed in opposition to the petition for certiorari. Counsel for Reichert in an affidavit dated April 10, 1990, stated:
On or about April 6, 1990, I became aware for the first time of the fact that Judge Judith Billings ... was possibly related to certain partners at the firm of Fabian & Clendenin, counsel for respondent herein.
I subsequently initiated a diligent inquiry into the relationship of Judge Billings and Peter Billings, Sr. and Peter Billings, Jr. and discovered that they are Judge Billings’ Father-in-Law and Brother-in-Law respectively, and that they are partners at Fabian & Clendenin.
There is no indication in the affidavit as to how counsel became aware of Judge Billings’ relationship, but in a brief subsequently filed with this court, he states that he became aware by noticing the names of Peter Billings, Sr., and Peter Billings, Jr., on the Fabian and Clendenin letterhead. No explanation is offered as to when the letterhead came into his possession. Mr. Roe, who was counsel for RSA, gave notice to the court and to Reichert’s counsel on January 14, 1986, that he had become associated with the firm of Fabian and Clende-nin. Thus, it is entirely possible that the letterhead could have come into the possession of Reichert’s counsel at any time after the last mentioned date, which was more than four years prior to the time Reichert’s counsel claims to have first become aware of the possibility of the relationship. During that four-year period, discovery was conducted; a trial was held; an appeal was taken to the court of appeals with oral argument before the panel; a written decision was rendered by that court; and a petition for a writ of certiorari was filed with this court.
Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 63(b) requires that an affidavit which seeks to disqualify a judge “shall be filed as soon as practicable after the case has been assigned or such bias or prejudice is known.” In our recent case of Madsen v. Prudential Federal Savings and Loan, 767 P.2d 538 (Utah 1988), we emphasized the requirement of timeliness and held that a motion to disqualify a judge which was filed thirty-nine days after the trial came too late. There, we wrote:
While a motion to disqualify a judge should not be undertaken lightly, it must be made promptly. A party who has a reasonable basis for moving to disqualify a judge may not delay in the hope of first obtaining a favorable ruling and then complain only if the result is unfavorable. Not only is such a tactic unfair, but it may evidence a belief that the judge is not in fact biased. Furthermore, delay imposes unnecessary disruption on both the judicial system and litigants. A disqualification proceeding is a collateral attack on the substantive action, it disrupts orderly litigation, and it necessarily results in significant additional costs to the parties. Accordingly, a party must move with dispatch once a basis for disqualification is discovered.
Id. at 542 (citations omitted).
We cited and briefly stated the rulings of numerous federal and state cases which *260were decided on the basis of whether the objection had been timely made. See also Richard C. Tinney, Annotation, Waiver or Loss of Right to Disqualify Judge by Participation in Proceedings—Modern State Civil Cases, 24 A.L.R.4th 870 (1983); Annotation, Timeliness of Affidavit of Disqualification of Trial Judge Under 28 USCS § 144, 24 A.L.R.Fed. 290 (1975). Modern cases recognize the general rule that constitutional, statutory, or court-rule provisions disqualifying judges in particular circumstances render actions by a disqualified judge voidable only, and not void. Accordingly, a judge’s disqualification may be waived by the parties. Annotation, 24 A.L.R.4th at 877.
In determining whether an affidavit of prejudice has been timely filed, courts often look at whether the affiant exercised diligence in discovering the facts upon which his affidavit is based. For example, in United States v. Hoffa, 245 F.Supp. 772 (E.D.Tenn.1965), an affidavit of prejudice against a trial judge was filed eighteen months after trial and within a few days after the defendant’s conviction had been affirmed upon appeal. In holding the affidavit to be untimely, the court wrote:
In this case there is a total lack of showing of any facts upon which diligence might be inferred. The same diligence which produced the affidavit within a few days after affirmance of defendants’ convictions upon appeal could doubtless have produced it at any prior time.
Id. at 776.
In the instant case, no explanation is offered as to why Reichert’s counsel was not earlier alerted by the Fabian and Clendenin letterhead or from other sources of the possible relationship between Judge Billings and the two members of her husband’s family who are shareholders in that firm. At this stage of the proceedings and in light of the void in the record, I cannot say that Reichert’s counsel has demonstrated the diligence which is required to show that his affidavit of prejudice was timely filed. Coupled with this void in the record is the fact that Judge Billings had been a judge on the court of appeals for almost three years when that court rendered its decision and immediately prior to becoming a judge of that court had served five years as a district court judge in Salt Lake County where counsel for both parties are of-ficed and practice. Peter Billings, Sr., a senior member of the firm of Fabian and Clendenin, has been associated with that firm for over forty years. Peter Billings, Jr., has been associated with that firm for a shorter but significant period of time. During that forty-year period, Fabian and Clendenin has been officed in downtown Salt Lake City and has had high visibility in the legal community. Reichert’s counsel is also a well-known, longtime practitioner and has officed in downtown Salt Lake City for many years. In view of all these facts and based on the record before us, I cannot join in setting aside the opinion of the court of appeals without an explanation of why Reichert’s counsel did not discover sooner the link between Judge Billings and her relatives in the firm representing RSA.
II. CANONS DO NOT HAVE FORCE OF LAW
Assuming that the objection to Judge Billings’ participation was timely raised, I cannot join the majority in holding that ipso facto the decision of the court of appeals must be set aside. In the first place, I believe that Judge Billings, as with any other judicial officer, should be entitled to be heard before any determination is made that she violated a canon of judicial ethics. Second, assuming that there was a violation, the appropriate remedy is not automatically setting aside a decision in which she participated with two other judges. Reichert relies on Smith v. Beckman, 683 P.2d 1214 (Colo.Ct.App.1984), where the court held that in determining whether a motion raised grounds for disqualification, a judge must consider not only the specific provisions of the statutes and rules of procedure cited, but also the code of judicial conduct, citing Stephens v. Stephens, 249 Ga. 700, 292 S.E.2d 689 (1982). I do not disagree with that holding. However, that is not the question before us. I would hold as did the federal district judge in United *261States v. Conforte, 457 F.Supp. 641 (D.Nev.1978), aff'd, 624 F.2d 869 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1012, 101 S.Ct. 568, 66 L.Ed.2d 470 (1980), that an otherwise proper judicial decision should not be automatically set aside because the judge making the decision violated a canon of judicial conduct. Said the court:
The only decisions cited by the defendants in support of their assertion are cases in which judges relied on the canons as a basis on which to disqualify themselves before a trial had begun. There do not appear to be any cases reversing a lower court’s failure to re-cuse based on the canons. This is understandable because, as a practical matter, the disqualification provisions of the Code of Conduct can only be construed as establishing a standard for judicial behavior rather than imposing a mandatory duty enforceable after the fact by the reversal of otherwise proper judicial decisions.
457 F.Supp. at 656 (citations omitted).
The majority in the case at bar does not cite a single case where a decision of a trial or appellate court was set aside because of a violation of a canon. Just as the judge in Conforte could not find any case so holding, my research has yielded none. In Hoff v. Eighth Judicial District Court, 79 Nev. 108, 378 P.2d 977 (1963), the arraignment of a criminal defendant was set aside because it had been presided over by a district court judge who was the father of the district attorney. An applicable statute provided that a judge should not act when he is related to an attorney for either party. The court regarded the terms of the statute as mandatory and held that the defendant had timely objected to the participation of the judge. In the instant case, the majority does not rely on our statute on disqualification, Utah Code Ann. § 78-7-1, which only prohibits a judge from acting in a case in which he or she is related to a party, but not to an attorney for a party. Nor does the majority rely on rule '63(b), Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires disqualification only when a legally sufficient affidavit of bias or prejudice has been filed against a judge. Instead, the majority sweeps aside the statute and the rule and elevates a much more restrictive canon of conduct to the status of paramount law and without any additional showing overturns an appellate decision. I would not accord, and no case has accorded, this force to a canon.
While this court has not heretofore decided the precise question before us, viz., whether violation of a canon of judicial conduct by a judge in a civil case on appeal should work an automatic setting aside of the panel’s decision, we did address a similar question in State v. Neeley, 748 P.2d 1091 (Utah 1988). In that case, the defendants filed an affidavit in support of their motion to disqualify the trial judge because he had served as district attorney before coming on the bench. In that capacity, some twenty years earlier, he had signed the criminal information in four cases involving defendant Belt, and in one of the cases, he appeared in court when Belt entered a guilty plea. The affidavit was determined to be legally insufficient by two other judges in the trial court, and the trial went forward before the challenged judge. The defendants were convicted, and upon appeal to this court, they contended that the trial judge’s failure to disqualify himself was reversible error because he had violated a canon of judicial conduct. We affirmed the convictions and refused to grant a new trial, stating:
This standard set forth by the Code of Judicial Conduct should be given careful consideration by the trial judge. It may require recusal in instances where no actual bias is shown. Failure to observe it may subject the judge to disciplinary measures. However, that does not necessarily mean that the defendant is entitled to a new trial. The parameters of defendants’ constitutional rights to a fair trial are defined in section 77-35-29(c)-(d) and relevant case law, not the Code of Judicial Conduct. See Harvell v. State, 742 P.2d 1138, 1140 (Okla.Crim.App.1987); State v. Wixon, 30 Wash.App. 63, 69, 631 P.2d 1033, 1038 (1981).
748 P.2d at 1094 (emphasis in original).
At this stage of the proceeding, I believe that something more should be shown to *262establish bias and prejudice before we set aside the decision of the court of appeals. Complaints that a judge has violated the canons of judicial conduct should be addressed to the Judicial Conduct Commission. Utah Code Ann. § 78-7-27 to -30. Provision is there made for the censure or reprimand of violating judges. We should not grant a windfall of additional relief by automatically setting aside what may be an otherwise proper decision.
In conclusion, I would not set aside the decision of the court of appeals but would address the merits of the substantive matters raised by Reichert on this certiorari review.
STEWART, J., concurs in the dissenting opinion of HOWE, Associate C.J.