Can a common pleas judge serve as a judge for trial on two unrelated cases at the same time?
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Can a common pleas judge serve as a judge for trial on two unrelated cases at the same time?
Would it be a conflict of interest for a judge to preside over 2 unrelated cases at the same time?
Asked on April 19, 2011 under Criminal Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
A conflict of interest is when a judge has some personal tie to a case (including to witnesses, attorneys, or parties in the case); or has an economic stake in the outcome (e.g. owns stock in a company on trial); or has worked on the case previously (such as an attorney) and so cannot be neutral on the matter; etc. Working on "two unrelated cases" would not seem to provide any conflict--as you write, the cases are "unrelated."
You may wish to re-submit your question with additional detail, if there is some other factor at work here which concerns you about the judge's impartiality or ability to fairly preside over one or both cases.
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