Legal Ethics

Stop Sign Issue Halts Divorce Case

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There were some unexpected legal developments today in a long-running divorce battle in South Florida.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Paul Siegel apparently blew a stop sign and drove into a local intersection, colliding with a vehicle driven by former Miami Mayor Joe Carollo. Carollo had been scheduled to appear before the 69-year-old jurist tomorrow as a party in an ongoing divorce case, but the crash brought the case to a temporary halt, reports the Miami Herald.

The hearing has now been postponed, pending reassignment of the case to a new judge, according to Eunice Sigler, a spokeswoman for Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit. Siegel ”voluntarily recused himself from the case, just to avoid any appearance of impropriety,” she says.

Neither man was seriously injured in the accident, according to the Herald. Siegel was cited by police for failing to yield.

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