{"id":904999,"date":"2025-11-11T14:51:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=904999"},"modified":"2025-11-11T14:51:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:51:27","slug":"construction-expert-witness-and-judge-live-in-same-hood-not-gounds-for-recusal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-expert-witness-and-judge-live-in-same-hood-not-gounds-for-recusal\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction Expert and Judge Living in the Same Hood Is Not Grounds For Recusal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Matthew DeVries | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bestpracticesconstructionlaw.com\/2025\/11\/articles\/best-practices\/hood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Best Practices Construction Law<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a recent Tennessee Court of Appeals decision,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tba.org\/docDownload\/2800787\">Nowaczyk v. Daniels Construction<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(Nov. 4, 2025), a contractor tried to disqualify the trial judge because the judge happened to live in the same neighborhood as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/expert-witnesses-finding-the-best\/\">potential expert witness<\/a> for the homeowners. The court\u2019s response? Proximity isn\u2019t prejudice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dispute started when homeowners sued Daniels Construction for allegedly botched remodeling work. When the judge disclosed during a hearing that he lived near the plaintiffs\u2019 proposed expert, the defense moved to have him recused from the case. They argued that prior cases involving the same expert had led to recusals. The trial judge, however, made clear there was no personal or professional relationship with the expert and denied the motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On appeal, the Court of Appeals agreed. Citing Tennessee\u2019s long-standing rule that judges must step aside only when their impartiality might&nbsp;<em>reasonably<\/em>&nbsp;be questioned, the court found no basis for recusal. Living in the same neighborhood as a witness doesn\u2019t automatically suggest bias. This is especially true when there\u2019s no friendship, prior dealings, or other connection beyond geography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Court of Appeals reasoned: \u201cIf a judge were required to recuse based on circumstances such as this, or other minor acquaintance with a witness that doesn\u2019t affect a judge\u2019s impartiality, they would be forced to recuse an inordinate number of times.\u201d In other words, casual community ties aren\u2019t enough to suggest bias. Judges are part of the same cities or counties in which they serve, and unless there\u2019s proof of something more, living in the same hood isn\u2019t grounds for stepping aside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew DeVries | Best Practices Construction Law In a recent Tennessee Court of Appeals decision,\u00a0Nowaczyk v. Daniels Construction\u00a0(Nov. 4, 2025), a contractor tried to disqualify the trial judge because the judge happened to live in the same neighborhood as a potential expert witness for the homeowners. The court\u2019s response? Proximity isn\u2019t prejudice. The dispute started&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-expert-witness-and-judge-live-in-same-hood-not-gounds-for-recusal\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Construction Expert and Judge Living in the Same Hood Is Not Grounds For Recusal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[172],"tags":[9895,27,17],"class_list":["post-904999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-law-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-law","tag-expert-witness-2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Construction Expert and Judge Living in the Same Hood Is Not Grounds For Recusal - Advise &amp; 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