Palm Beach Circuit Judge Scott Ryan Kerner. Photo: Tracey Benson Photography. The Fourth District Court of Appeal granted a plaintiffs request that Palm Beach Circuit Judge Scott Ryan Kerner step away from her case after he voluntarily recused himself in a similar lawsuit over family ties with the defendant. Photo: Tracey Benson Photography.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal granted a plaintiff's request to disqualify Palm Beach Circuit Judge Scott P. Kerner from an employment discrimination case Wednesday after he had voluntarily recused himself from a similar case over family ties to the defendant, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

Plaintiff Laura Rosales had relied on that prior recusal—in which Kerner said he had a "family relationship" with Bradshaw—to argue that she wouldn't receive a fair trial in her case. But the court denied her motion, finding it legally insufficient.

The defendant had claimed that recusal wasn't necessary because of technical deficiencies in documents accompanying the motion, according to Wednesday's opinion. But the Fourth DCA rejected that, ordering the lower court to assign a new judge.

The opinion cited case law that says if a judge saw fit to step away because of a personal relationship with an attorney or litigant in one case, then that same relationship is enough to require recusal if raised elsewhere.

Judge Robert Gross wrote the opinion, backed by Judges Martha Warner and Mark Klingensmith.

The plaintiff, an evidence technician at the sheriff's crime lab, sued in 2015, alleging she was wrongfully denied a promotion after reporting that her supervisor threatened to harm his own family and broke protocol by asking her to open sealed evidence. The defense moved to dismiss, arguing Rosales' claims failed to meet the requirements of the Whistleblower Act.

Third time lucky?

Kerner was the second judge to take Rosales' case as she also asked Palm Beach Circuit Judge Thomas H. Barkdull III to step down in 2016. He obliged, according to online case files.

In a motion to disqualify, plaintiffs attorney Isidro Garcia of the Garcia Law Firm in West Palm Beach claimed Barkdull had chastised him for being late to a hearing for a different case. The courtroom door was locked when Garcia arrived half an hour late, according to the motion, which said the lawyer had suspected "for some years now" that Barkdull had an "apparent antipathy" for him.

Garcia's motion cited a second case, in which Barkdull allegedly shouted at him because it was "going too slowly" and threatened to declare a mistrial. That threat, Garcia claimed, distressed his pregnant client so much that she had to go to the emergency room.

"In both cases my clients were treated very unfavorably and unfairly by the court," Garcia wrote. "I don't believe the animus was against my clients, but against me."

Garcia did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Counsel to Sheriff Bradshaw, Robert L. Norton and Suhail Morales of Allen Norton & Blue in Coral Gables deferred comment to their communications department, which did not respond.

 

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