Court Opinion

ID: 9775379
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:56:20.58351+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:25.721823
License: Public Domain

HEDGES, Justice,
concurring.
I take the unusual, but not unprecedented step of concurring with my own opinion. I agree with the entirety of the majority opinion. I write to expose conflicting precedent within the jurisprudence of our own court, a conflict that has nothing to do with the disposition of this case.
Because this case involved the recusal of a trial judge in a criminal case, any discussion in the majority opinion of recusal in a civil trial would be dictum. I therefore am using this more flexible forum to highlight divergent decisions in civil cases within our own court.
In three of our opinions, particular panels have held that a ruling on the merits of a motion to recuse under rule 18a must be made by a judge other than the one whose recusal is sought, even if the motion is proce-durafly defective. Winfield v. Daggett, 846 S.W.2d 920, 922 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1993, no writ) (judge subject of recusal motion has no authority to rule on the timeliness of motion); Carson v. McAdams, 908 S.W.2d 228, 228-29 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.], 1993, orig. proceeding) (pub. pending) (judge subject of recusal motion cannot rule on the merits of the motion, even if he believes the motion to be groundless and brought in bad faith); Carson v. Gomez, 841 S.W.2d 491, 493 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1992, no writ) (judge subject of recusal motion cannot rule on whether the motion was properly verified).
In at least four other of our cases, panels have held to the contrary, that a procedurally defective motion to recuse does not trigger the mandatory provisions of rule 18a. Johnson v. Smith, 857 S.W.2d 612, 614-15 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1993, no writ) (untimely filed motion to recuse did not trigger mandatory recuse or refer option); Texaco, Inc. v. Pennzoil, Co., 729 S.W.2d 768, 855 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1987 writ ref'd n.r.e.), cert denied, 485 U.S. 994, 108 S.Ct. 1305, 99 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988) (mandatory hearing is not triggered unless recusal motion states valid grounds for disqualification); Houston N. Properties v. White, 731 S.W.2d 719, 722 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1987, writ dism’d) (mandatory recuse or refer provisions of rule 18a do not come into play unless the motion to recuse is timely filed); Petitt v. Laware, 715 S.W.2d 688, 692 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1986, writ ref'd n.r.e.) (mandatory provisions do not come into play if the motion is untimely filed).
I agree with the former line of cases, those which hold that once a recusal motion is filed, the trial judge must recuse or refer, even if the motion is procedurally defective. To hold otherwise undermines the purpose of the rule: to distance the trial judge from the recusal proceedings and afford a neutral arbitration of the movant’s complaint.
I trust that our Court will resolve the conflict between these two lines of cases at the soonest opportunity.