Lowering the Bar had this item last week but has been sitting on it until it was (a) confirmed (as having actually been filed, that is, not as relating true events) and (b) made public by someone else first, and now it appears both of those conditions have been met.
A Mr. Robert Seitz, acting pro se, recently filed a motion to recuse a judge in Florida on grounds that I would guess are very rare, if not unprecedented. Seitz alleged that the judge was biased because of two, um, encounters they allegedly had while students at the University of Miami almost 25 years ago. He did not really explain why these incidents would justify his supposed "grave concern" about her impartiality, even if they were true.
The "legal tabloid" Above the Law was one of the first to post the story, as far as I can tell, and I will let them host the documents as well.
In a recent order, the judge denied Seitz's motion to recuse, denied his allegations, and (remarkably, I thought) denied the other side's motion for sanctions against Seitz. Seitz has a history of doing this kind of thing -- a published Florida opinion notes that he pleaded no contest in 2001 to five counts of battery, stalking, and harassment, including publishing what he claimed were his victim's pharmaceutical records. Seitz was given probation on those charges, but violated it, and ended up spending four years in jail.
The 2004 order against Seitz I will publish myself.
Link: Above the Law
