Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed March 18, 2015.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D15-630
Lower Tribunal No. 11-28790
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Candice Wolfson,
Petitioner,
vs.
Howard Wolfson,
Respondent.
A Case of Original Jurisdiction – Prohibition.
Dirk Lorenzen, for petitioner.
Karen B. Weintraub, for respondent.
Before SUAREZ, ROTHENBERG, and LAGOA, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Candice Wolfson petitions this Court for a writ of prohibition to prevent the
trial judge from presiding over the parties’ post-dissolution proceeding after the
trial court denied her verified motion to disqualify. We find that the motion for
disqualification was legally sufficient as the trial judge’s comments indicate that
she had prejudged the case. See Barnett v. Barnett, 727 So. 2d 311, 312 (Fla. 2d
DCA 1999) (“While it is well-settled that a judge may form mental impressions
and opinions during the course of hearing evidence, he or she may not prejudge the
case.”). As such, we conclude that the petitioner’s fear of partiality is reasonable,
and we grant the petition. We are confident it will be unnecessary to formally
issue the writ. See Van v. Unifund CCR, LLC, 154 So. 3d 522 (Fla. 5th DCA
2015); Kopel v. Kopel, 832 So. 2d 108 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002); Southeast Bank v.
Capua, 584 So. 2d 101 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991).
Writ granted.
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