COLARUSSO V. COLARUSSO
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Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida, July Term, A.D., 2009 Opinion filed October 21, 2009. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing. ________________ No. 3D09-1633 Lower Tribunal No. 08-22130 ________________ Christopher Colarusso, Petitioner, vs. Brenna Myers Colarusso, Respondent. A Case of Original Jurisdiction Prohibition. Deborah Marks, for petitioner. Rosenthal Rosenthal Rasco Kaplan and Liliana Loebl, for respondent. Before WELLS, SHEPHERD and LAGOA, JJ. PER CURIAM. Petitioner Christopher Colarusso seeks a writ of prohibition preventing the trial judge from conducting further proceedings in the petitioner s dissolution of marriage case. A motion to recuse or disqualify a trial judge is legally sufficient when the alleged facts would create in a reasonably prudent person a well-founded fear of not receiving a fair and impartial trial. Valdes-Fauli v. Valdes-Fauli, 903 So. 2d 214, 216 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005). A review of the verified motion to disqualify demonstrates that it is legally sufficient. The judge s decidedly negative commentary concerning his personal opinion of the petitioner s behavior, when viewed in the context of, and at this stage of, the dissolution proceeding, is sufficient to create in a reasonably prudent person a well-founded fear that he would not receive a fair hearing before this judge. See Miami Dade College v. Turnberry Inv., Inc., 979 So. 2d 1211 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008); Valdes-Fauli, 903 So. 2d at 214; Kopel v. Kopel, 832 So. 2d 108 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002); Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. v. Doe, 767 So. 2d 626 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000); Tindle v. Tindle, 761 So. 2d 424 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000). Accordingly, we grant the petition. We are certain that it will be unnecessary to issue a formal writ. Petition granted. 2
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