Court Opinion

ID: 9758108
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:12:05.840575+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:47.122268
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, concurring. I join the majority court’s stice, believe Circuit Judge Robert C. Vittitow had good reason to continue and reset the State’s petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the removal of Clay Oldner as the Mayor of Dumas. The bar and bench should remain aware that a judge may control his or her docket, but there are limits. The majority properly cites the case of Eason v. Erwin, 300 Ark 384, 781 S.W.2d 1 (1989), where the trial court had failed to rule on the petitioners’ motion for summary judgment which had been pending seven months. Petitioners had made several requests for a trial setting. However, this court cited the Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 3(A)(5), which requires that a judge should promptly dispose of court business, and added that the court did not mean a motion or case should be delayed beyond a time reasonably necessary to dispose of it. See also Administrative Order Number 3, which provides courts a period of time within which to dispose of cases under final submission. Although the Erwin court denied petitioners a writ of mandamus, it cautioned the judge that “one would have to concede that the trial judge needs to do something to demonstrate his objectivity. The best way to demonstrate that objectivity is to promptly attend to the matter.” This admonition given in the Erwin decision is worth practicing and, on occasion, work to avoid some embarrassing moments.