Morrow v. Dist. Court
Annotate this CaseKourtney Morrow filed a complaint for divorce from Craig Morrow and a motion for child custody. A hearing on the motion was set to be heard by Judge Robert Teuton. On April 20, 2012, Kourtney served Craig with the summons, complaint, and motion. On May 4, 2012, Craig made his first appearance and filed a peremptory challenge against Judge Teuton. The matter was reassigned to Judge Cynthia Steel, who rejected the peremptory challenge and transferred the matter back to Judge Teuton, ruling that the time to file a peremptory challenge had expired on April 30, 2012, ten calendar days after Kourtney served Craig with the complaint and motion. Craig filed a petition for writ of mandamus, arguing that the time to file a peremptory challenge cannot expire until a party has made a first appearance. The Supreme Court granted the petition and issued the requested writ, holding (1) the time to file a peremptory challenge begins to run upon proper notice of a hearing and may expire regardless of whether a party has appeared in the action; but (2) the ten-day window in which to file a challenge excludes intermediate nonjudicial days, and thus, the instant peremptory challenge was timely filed.
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