PHIL SEARS/Special to the Daily Business Review

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide a closely watched case about how judges can interact with attorneys on social media.

The justices will review the Third District Court of Appeal's decision finding that Miami-Dade Judge Beatrice Butchko did not need to recuse herself from a case just because she's Facebook “friends” with attorney and former judge Israel Reyes, who appeared before her to represent a nonparty.

“A random name drawn from a list of Facebook 'friends' probably belongs to casual friend, an acquaintance, an old classmate, a person with whom the member shares a common hobby, a 'friend of a friend' or even a local celebrity like a coach,” the Third DCA ruled in August. “An assumption that all Facebook 'friends' rise to the level of a close relationship that warrants disqualification simply does not reflect the current nature of this type of electronic social networking.”

North Miami attorney Reuven Herssein challenged the ruling, arguing it conflicts with the earlier guidance of judicial ethics opinions and with a Fourth District Court of Appeal decision.

“The ruling by the Third DCA created different standards for different judges depending on which district the judge sits in,” he said. “And that's just untenable. … The judicial canons have to be uniformly applied to all judges.”

Herssein said the Third DCA's opinion also exposed all judges to discovery of their social media accounts because the court found that friendship alone is not enough to warrant recusal, and a closer relationship would have to be shown.

“I don't think that they anticipated what the effect of their opinion was,” he said.

The Third DCA's decision drew cheers from legal social media experts, who said Florida has some of the most draconian rules in the country when it came to judges' online relationships.

Herssein said he understands technology is changing.

“We don't believe that judges cannot be Facebook friends with lawyers,” he said. “That's not what our motion to disqualify is predicated on, and that's not our position. … In today's day and age, obviously social media is going to be used. The question really is when the lawyer appears in front of you, and you are asked to disqualify, you should disqualify yourself because then you have an appearance of impropriety.”

The appellate battle arose from a dispute between Herssein Law Group and United States Automobile Association, whose attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.