In re Disqualification of Greer - Ohio Supreme Court Opinion - Ohio Supreme Court Decision

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IN RE DISQUALIFICATION OF GREER.
BEERY ET AL. v. HIGHLAND COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS.
[Cite as In re Disqualification of Greer (1997), ___ Ohio St.3d ___.]
Judges -- Affidavit of disqualification -- Prior professional activities and
relationships not grounds for disqualification of judge, when.
(No. 97-AP-047 -- Decided April 4, 1997.)
ON AFFIDAVIT OF DISQUALIFICATION in Highland County
Court of Common Pleas case No. 97-C-5.

MOYER, C.J. Affiant is counsel for the plaintiffs in an action pending
before Judge Kevin L. Greer of the Highland County Court of Common Pleas.
The underlying matter involves appeals to the common pleas court by several
property owners of assessments made by the Highland County Board of County
Commissioners.

Affiant asserts that Judge Greer should be disqualified from the underlying
action because the judge, prior to taking office, served as an assistant prosecuting
attorney and as a law partner with the county prosecutor. Because of this prior
professional relationship, affiant asserts that his clients will not receive a fair
hearing before Judge Greer.
In
In re Disqualification of Cross (1991), 74 Ohio St.3d 1228, 657 N.E.2d
1338, I held that "[t]he prior professional activities of a judge are not grounds for
disqualification where the record fails to demonstrate the existence of a
relationship or interest that clearly and adversely impacts on a party's ability to
obtain a fair trial. See In re Disqualification of Gaughan (Oct. 5, 1987), No. 87-
AP-057, unreported." In Cross, the judge had served as an assistant prosecuting
attorney and practiced law with the assistant prosecutor assigned to the underlying
case. Similarly, in In re Disqualification of Weaver (Sept. 8, 1987), No. 87-AP-

103, unreported, I concluded that the mere fact that a judge and an attorney were
law partners for eleven years was not grounds for disqualification because the
partnership ended when the judge took office, and her former partner did not
undertake representation of the client in the underlying case until after the judge
had left the partnership.

Here, there is no indication that Judge Greer participated in any matter that
is the subject of the underlying case or provided any representation to the board of
county commissioners, such that his disqualification would be mandated under
Canon 3(C) of the Code of Judicial Conduct. Moreover, the record does not
demonstrate the existence of a relationship or interest that clearly and adversely
impacts on the ability of affiant's clients to obtain a fair trial or that raises a
reasonable question as to Judge Greer's impartiality.

For these reasons, the affidavit of disqualification is found not well taken
and is denied. The case shall proceed before Judge Greer.

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