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Fla. Supreme Court Weighs Judge's Facebook Friendship

St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office
/
Wikimedia Commons

The Florida Supreme Court is poised next week to take up a case that poses a question for the age of social media: What does it mean to be a Facebook friend?

Justices will hear arguments about whether a Miami-Dade County circuit judge should be disqualified from a case because she is a Facebook friend with a lawyer for one of the parties.

The outcome could have reverberations in courthouses across the state, as justices weigh whether a Facebook friendship poses the potential for bias.

The underlying case stems from a dispute between the Herssein Law Group and a former client, United States Automobile Association, about attorney fees and alleged fraud and breach of contract.

The law firm sought the disqualification of Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko because she was a Facebook friend with attorney Israel Reyes, who was hired to represent a company official in the case.

Photo used under Creative Commons license.