164 So. 3d 165

Douglas M. WYCKOFF, Petitioner, v. Melissa K. CAVANAUGH f/k/a Melissa K. Wyckoff, Respondent.

No. 1D15-1646.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

May 15, 2015.

Douglas M. Wyckoff, pro se, Petitioner.

James C. Campbell and Clark H. Henderson, Shalimar, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM.

Petitioner, the former husband in this post-dissolution proceeding, filed a petition for writ of prohibition to review the trial court’s order denying his verified motion to disqualify the trial judge. The motion alleged that the judge refused to allow Petitioner to cross-examine Respondent, the former wife, during an evidentiary hearing on the former wife’s emergency motion to temporarily suspend the former husband’s timesharing and visitation. We agree with the former husband that, based on this allegation,1 the motion to disqualify was legally sufficient and should have been granted. See Wade v. Wade, 123 So.3d 697, 698 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013) (granting petition for writ of prohibition and explaining that the judge’s refusal • to allow a mother in a timesharing proceeding to con*166duct cross-examination “denied the Mother a most basic right of due process and reasonably caused her to fear that she would not receive a fair and impartial hearing”); Zuchel v. State, 824 So.2d 1044, 1046 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (granting petition for writ of prohibition and rejecting argument that the judge’s refusal to allow defense counsel to cross-examine the victim was merely a complaint about an adverse ruling because “the outright denial of the basic and fundamental right of cross-examination ... would give a reasonably prudent person a well-founded fear of judicial bias”) (citation omitted; emphasis in original). Accordingly, we grant the petition for writ of prohibition and remand for the assignment of a new trial judge.2

PETITION GRANTED.

LEWIS, C.J., WETHERELL and RAY, JJ., concur.

Wyckoff v. Cavanaugh
164 So. 3d 165

Case Details

Name
Wyckoff v. Cavanaugh
Decision Date
May 15, 2015
Citations

164 So. 3d 165

Jurisdiction
Florida

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