Judge Reprimanded

The Florida Supreme Court has issued a public reprimand of a district court of appeal judge for issuing a concurring opinion that was “motivated by ill will…and personally attack[ed] another judge of the court].” The reprimanded judge had “expressed a strong dislike of [the other judge] that predated the [case at issue].”

The court concluded:

Judge Allen accused a fellow appellate judge of judicial corruption based on unverified facts that came from outside the record and were not part of the…case. Although Judge Allen asserts that he wrote the opinion simply to explain why he voted in favor of an en banc consideration, we find that [he] went beyond this explanation and launched an unnecessary personal attack on Judge Kahn based on his dislike for him…it is obvious from the language of the opinion that his animus towards Judge Kahn played a significant part in his decision to write the opinion.

The court rejected the contention that the doctrine of judicial independence precluded any sanction and ordered that the judge “appear before this Court for the administration of [the sanction]…” (Mike Frisch)