Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed October 6, 2022.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D22-1537
Lower Tribunal No. 21-15598
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J.R., the Father,
Petitioner,
vs.
Department of Children and Families, et al.,
Respondents.
A Case of Original Jurisdiction – Prohibition.
Law Office of David Scott, P.A., and David M. Scott (Ft. Lauderdale),
for petitioner.
Karla Perkins, for the Department of Children and Families; Sara
Elizabeth Goldfarb and Laura J. Lee (Tallahassee), for the Guardian ad
Litem, for respondents.
Before FERNANDEZ, C.J., and GORDO, and LOBREE, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
J.R., the Father, seeks a writ of prohibition precluding the trial court
from presiding in the dependency matter pending below. J.R. wishes to
disqualify the trial court based on comments that she made at the conclusion
of a hearing regarding a domestic violence injunction. Concluding that
expression of the trial court’s mental impressions at the conclusion of the
hearing did not rise to the level necessary to establish that the trial court has
prejudged the case, we deny the petition. In fact, a fair reading of the trial
court’s comments clearly establish that the trial court has maintained a
neutral and unbiased perspective of the issues before her below. See 1440
Plaza, LLC v. New Gala Bldg., LLC, 314 So. 3d 555 (Fla. 3d DCA 2020).
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