Purvis v. Frink

Citations

• 55 Fla. 715

Syllabus

<p>1. Where in a chancery cause an application is made to change the venue under section 1471 General Statutes of 1906, on account of the prejudice of the judge of the circuit court, and there is no allegation in the application that the judge is prejudiced against the applicants, or either of them, but it is alleged that the judge by reason of his being a stockholder and director of two corporations, viz: a bank, and of an investment company, engaged is. the business of lending money at rates which the applicants contend is usurious, and that in the pending case the facts stated by the applicants in defense of the suit present a similar question of usury, wherefore the applicants fear the judge has such an interest in the result of the pending case as to prejudice him in the interest of complainant and against the defendant, such application presents no statutory ground for a change of venue.</p> <p>2. Section 1471 General Statutes of 1906, authorizing a change of venue on account of prejudice in the judge, construed in the light of our decisions, means a prejudice against a party to the cause, and not a prejudice based upon or growing out of the business relations of the judge or a mere interest in an abstract question that may be involved in the cause and which may arise in some future independent litigation not yet begun.</p>