Court Opinion

ID: 9516477
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 23:43:13.167887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:37:14.973433
License: Public Domain

HUTCHINSON, Justice,
concurring.
As we make plain in Municipal Publications, Inc. v. Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, 507 Pa. 194, 489 A.2d 1286 (1985), a trial judge is not required to call upon another judge to preside over either a trial or hearing on recusal simply because recusal is requested. He must do so only when he becomes a witness, id., feels it necessary to defend or explain his conduct on a factual basis, Commonwealth v. Darush, 501 Pa. 15, 459 A.2d 727 (1983), is personally interested in the outcome of the cause, In re Dunmore Borough’s Election, 299 Pa. 517, 149 A. 733 (1930), is so closely related to a party or their attorney that such personal interest can be presumed, see Canon of Judicial Conduct 3 C, or where the record shows that a particular ruling or rulings which materially prejudice the party seeking recusal resulted from express bias or ill will against that party, Darush, supra.1 In any event, none of these situations are presented by the record and I therefore concur in the result.

. In the last situation, post-trial and appellate remedies are normally sufficient to protect the rights of a party to an unbiased tribunal and there is no need to disrupt and halt the litigation process pending interlocutory appellate review of a ruling by another judge. Municipal Publications, supra.