Judge Needn’t Recuse for Considering Evidence Heard by Prior Judge

Fayette County Courthouse

Tennessee case summary on judicial recusal in divorce.

Carolyn Diane Long v. Steven Lawrence Long

The parties in this Fayette County divorce case were before the Tennessee Court of Appeals twice before, in March 2020, and then again in December 2020.  Both of the earlier appeals involved issues of whether the trial judge should have recused himself.  In the December appeal, the trial judge had recused himself, but had issued a subsequent order, which the Court of Appeals vacated.  The case was remanded for a second time, for proceedings by a different judge.

The case was remanded, and the father requested that the trial start over from scratch, rather than having the new judge simply pick up where the previous one had left off.  This motion was denied, and the new judge, Chancellor Martha B. Brasfield, resumed the 2019 hearing.

The father then made a motion asking Chancellor Brasfield to recuse herself, alleging that her impartiality was in question.   This motion was denied, and the father immediately filed a third appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, which first noted that such requests are reviewed on a de novo basis.  But it also noted that the father bore the burden of proof.

The father argued that since the earlier testimony was to be considered, the trial court could not certify that there would be no prejudice.  But the appeals court noted that this was not the standard, and that there is a requirement that the moving party show bias from some extrajudicial source.

In this case, the father had not done so, and the appeals court pointed out that he had failed to show any evidence showing the judge’s partiality.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals concluded that the trial court had correctly denied the motion.  Therefore, it affirmed and remanded the case for further proceedings.  It also assessed the costs of appeal against the father.

No.W2021–01014-COA-T10B-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sep. 29,  2021).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.