Judge was friends with the other party and I lost the case

In 2022, I moved out of my apartment. The landlord refused to return my security deposit, and also refused to provide any sort of itemized list of charges. He just said he was keeping all the money ($850) for “cleaning” and “damages”.

Everyone said I had a slam-dunk case. I took it to small claims court and was feeling very confident about myself, but I still lost. The judge heard me present my story, and then asked my landlord for his side. The landlord just said “I had to have the apartment cleaned” and “there were a few things that needed to be fixed”. The judge was like “$850 seems reasonable” and dismissed the case.

This happened 2 years ago. Fast forward to last week, and I am scrolling Facebook and see a picture of my former landlord, the judge, and both their wives at some sort of gala which was sponsored by the local chamber of commerce. I dig a bit deeper and find more pictures of them together at various events going back to at least 2020. Their wives are apparently also friends and went to California for a wine-tasting trip together, along with some others.

Surely this is unethical right? Shouldn’t the judge have recused himself? Is there anything I can do at this point?

This is in Texas btw.

Maybe report to your state’s judicial ethics commission.

Judges in Texas are elected, right? Make a big showing of his unfair actions on the next election.

If its been two years, you’re far past the deadline to appeal and there is no other remedy.

You could complain to the chief judge of the judicial district, but that wouldn’t help you any.

Its not entirely clear he should have recused. Recusal would be under “the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned” part of Texas R.C.P. 18(b) which isn’t a cut and dry test that necessarily produces clear answers. Here, two people active in the Chamber of Commerce or other similar organizations will inevitably sit at a table once in a while; that doesn’t necessarily mean they are friends or socialize outside of these contexts.

@Frost
It wasn’t just one event where they happened to be sitting at the same table. They have several pictures together, some of which are in one of their houses, and their wives went on a vacation together. I don’t see how the judge could have possibly been impartial.

@Lux
Yeah, ok, I’m convinced. If timely raised, you should have won a motion to disqualify. It’s unfortunate there is no remedy at this point.

Frost said:
@Lux
Yeah, ok, I’m convinced. If timely raised, you should have won a motion to disqualify. It’s unfortunate there is no remedy at this point.

But how could I timely raise it when I wasn’t aware of it? I feel like the time should start when I learn of the conflict.

@Lux
The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct has jurisdiction over civil misconduct for three years after the date of occurrence. You should still be within time to file a formal complaint against the judge. It may never get you any money, but I would do it anyway as a matter of principle.

@Lux
File small claims against the judge!

@Lux

Shawn said:
@Lux

Bad advise.

It really depends on jurisdiction. I’ve tried cases against guys who went to high school with the judge. It’s not uncommon, especially in small jurisdictions, for the attorneys to be friends with the judges because they’re all drawn from the same small pool of local lawyers. It doesn’t necessarily mean the judge was partial - that’s a fact issue but at this point it’s probably too late. A motion to recuse needs to be timely.

@Dex
Hell I work in a pretty big jurisdiction and it’s not unusual here either. It’s hard to say where the line is as far as when it requires disclosure or recusal.

I think one important factor here is, given that the opposing party was a landlord and not just another attorney, the judge presumably knows him from outside of ‘work’. To me, that should have at least called for a disclosure and giving OP the option to ask for another judge.

It’s going to be hard (maybe impossible) for you to pursue this because it’s been two years. Even though you just saw the information, it apparently has been out there on the internet for years. And it’s going to be an uphill battle after that because the grounds for recusal are more than just “their wives are friends” or “they both attended local CoC dinners” because the grounds in Texas are:

" In short, a judge may be recused if only he has some actual interest—personal, familial, or financial—in the outcome of a case, or where he has shown himself to be so prejudiced against one of the parties or the case’s subject matter that he cannot be trusted to rule fairly. The threshold is a high one, and it is meant to be. Judges are presumed to be impartial and are trusted to apply the law fairly to all sides. It is only when there is a genuine reason to question a judge’s impartiality that he should be removed from a case."

I don’t think it’s worth your time/money to pursue.

NAL the new discovery of this evidence may reset the clock on an appeal talk to a lawyer asap

Let It go and move on.