Did winning a store prize in a random drawing disqualify the judge from a later case involving the store?

Plain-English summary

The judge and the judge’s wife entered a department store’s random prize drawing while shopping. The judge won a portable sewing machine and asked whether receiving it would disqualify the judge from later cases involving the store.

The Commission concluded that receipt of a prize awarded by random drawing did not disqualify the judge from future proceedings in which the prize donor was a party.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1980, after the Alabama Supreme Court’s 1975 adoption of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics. Subsequent amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context and verify the current Canons and linked opinion before relying on its conclusions.

Common questions

Q: What kind of prize did the judge receive?

A: The store awarded the judge a portable sewing machine after a random drawing.

Q: Did the Commission require recusal from future cases involving the store?

A: No. Its answer addressed future proceedings in which the donor store was a party and found no disqualification from the random-drawing prize.

Background and rules framework

The letter addresses judicial disqualification arising from receipt of a random-drawing prize. It cites no numbered Canon.

See also

• AL Judicial Ethics Op. 81-109: Card Game With Attorney and Recusal
• AL Judicial Ethics Op. 94-518: Litigant Computer Equipment Gift

Source

• Landing page: Alabama JIC advisory opinions
• Original PDF: Advisory Opinion 80-75
• Canon history: Alabama JIC, Canons of Judicial Ethics

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

80-75
Judicial Inquiry Commission
800 SOUTH MCDONOUGH STREET
SUITE 201
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36104
April 29, 1980
The Judicial Inquiry Commission has considered your request for an opinion concerning disqualification of a judge under certain circumstances. You state that you and your wife, while shopping in a local department store, signed up for a prize to be awarded by the store upon a random drawing. You were not required to be present in order to be awarded a prize. Later you were notified that your name had been drawn and that you had won a portable sewing machine. Your specific question is whether your receipt of the sewing machine would disqualify you from sitting as a judge in future legal proceedings in which the department store is a party. It is the opinion of the Commission that the fact that a judge receives a prize awarded by a random drawing would not disqualify the judge from sitting in future legal proceedings in which the donor of the prize is a party.