Wisconsin’s Court of Appeals handed down a decision today concerning social media. The appellate court held that a trial judge’s decision to accept a litigant’s Facebook friend request during litigation before his court created a risk of actual bias, resulted in the appearance of partiality, and so was a due process violation for which trial judge’s decision in the case was reversed and remanded. See Miller v. Carroll, No. 2017AP2132 (Wis. Ct. App. February 20, 2019).
A few obvious qualifications apply: (1) this seems to be the first case of its kind in Wisconsin (a case of ‘first impression’), (2) it involves a trial judge’s acceptance of a social media connection by one of the parties appearing before his court, (3) during – not after – proceedings involving that party. The Wisconsin Supreme Court may, itself, consider this matter, and even if it does not, the ruling remains narrow.
There are other connections involving electronic social media that this decision does not (understandably) address. It seems probable, however, that officials who exercise quasi-judicial authority (on various boards, commissions, etc.) may in time find their judicial decisions questioned as was the trial court’s in this case.
For a published story about the case, see A child custody dispute will get a new hearing because the judge became Facebook friends with the mother before his ruling.
The full opinion follows —
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