U.S. judge in Everglades cleanup case ousted

sun-sentinel.com
Posted September 23 2003, 12:15 PM EDT

Big Sugar on Tuesday won its bid to oust the Miami federal judge overseeing the cleanup of the Florida Everglades. United States Sugar Corp.'s request that U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler be disqualified from further work in the controversial case was granted by the chief judge for the U.S. District Court in South Florida, William J. Zloch. The 11-page order refers the case back to the clerk's office for appointment of another judge, who will be selected randomly. The "Order of Disqualification" cites the so-called Code of Conduct for U.S. judges and case law and in particular two points: - Judges should avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

- Judges should neither give interviews to the media about a matter pending before the judge nor comment about the merits of the case or the parties thereto. Zloch seems to have agreed with the second point in disqualifying Hoeveler. He said in his order that Hoeveler had repeatedly been quoted in newspaper stories on the case. "Certain statements (by Hoeveler) demonstrate an objective doubt as to Judge Hoeveler's continued impartiality," Zloch wrote.

Last June, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw out the removal action because the sugar company who filed the motion, Flo-Sun's New Hope Sugar Company, was not a party to the case. The industry's second prong of attack to have Hoeveler removed involved U.S. Sugar's claims that the judge had lost his objectivity to oversee the landmark 1992 settlement that resulted in the cleanup's state-federal partnership. The company contends Hoeveler demonstrated bias by criticizing, in the news media and in two court orders, new state legislation that could delay the cleanup by a decade. Hoeveler had maintained he would adhere to the pollution-level standards and cleanup timetable established in the settlement, regardless of what effect the new state legislation would have.