Judge’s Internet Search Draws Reprimand

The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct has issued a public reprimand of a Rutherford County judge for misconduct in presiding over a case involving the value of a cut down tree.

the judge had “conducted an internet search to research the value of the property. [He] found an online valuation calculator and then used that information to question an expert witness about the differences between his methodology for valuing the tree and that of the online source [he] located.”

The use of an extrajudicial source of information was inconsistent  judicial canon RJC 2.9(C). (Mike Frisch)