Judge’s Complaint Against Lawyer in Other Case Did Not Warrant Recusal

Tennessee case summary on motions to recuse in divorce.

Judge’s ethics complain againt Wife’s lawyer in unrelated case does not warrant recusal.

Catina Hope Kestner Lusk v. Brandon Burl Lusk

The wife in this Unicoi County, Tennessee, case filed for divorce in 2021.  The husband filed an answer, but the case remained dormant for over a year.  The case was eventually set for trial before Judge Suzanne Cook.  About two weeks before the trial, the wife filed a motion for Judge Cook to be recused.    Among other things, she alleged that the judge had filed a complaint against her attorney with the Board of Professional Responsibility in an unrelated case.

The trial court denied the motion.  The court noted that the complaint did not arise from this case, didn’t involve any overlapping issues, and that it did not involve the wife.   The wife then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The appeals court first noted that parties do have the right to an impartial judge, but the evidence must be sufficient to prompt a reasonable person to believe there is a basis for criticizing the judge’s impartiality.

The wife argued that the trial court showed its bias by setting a trial date “because she was not interested in the wife’s life circumstances.”  But the appeals court found no evidence that this was the case.

The court next turned to the claim that the judge was biased because of the earlier complaint against her lawyer.  The appeals court noted that it was hamstrung in its ability to review this claim because of the limited amount of material presented.  But it found nothing in the evidence presented that would warrant recusal.

It also held that merely criticizing the attorney was not sufficient grounds for recusal.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeal affirmed, and taxed the costs of appeal against the wife.

No. E2024-00226-COA-T10B-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 22, 2024).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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