TRAVERSE CITY -- A misstatement by Grand Traverse County Circuit Court Judge Philip E. Rodgers might remove him from the ongoing lawsuits between Acme Township officials and Meijer Inc.
Meijer's former law firm, Dickinson Wright PLLC, and attorney Timothy Stoepker asked Rodgers to recuse himself because of "substantial personal bias and prejudice" against Stoepker and the law firm in a lawsuit filed by Acme Township planning commissioner Robert Carstens. The lawsuit charges that Meijer, the Village at Grand Traverse LLC and its former attorneys intentionally harmed township officials through a frivolous 2005 lawsuit, illegal campaign activity and secret financial support of a citizens group targeting township officials.
At issue are statements made by Rodgers during a June 23 hearing in which he accused Stoepker of lying to him in court at a previous hearing about his knowledge of Meijer's illegal campaign activities.
"When does it become extraordinary circumstances when a blue chip firm, when an old distinguished firm like Dickinson Wright, is willing to look a judge in the eye and lie about $30,000, OK?" Rodgers said, according to court transcripts from the hearing. "He didn't have the right to look me in the eye and lie, did he? I don't respect Mr. Stoepker anymore."
Rodgers was referring to a hearing in former Acme Township treasurer Bill Boltres' lawsuit against Meijer for harassment and malicious prosecution that settled out of court. But court records show Stoepker wasn't present at the hearing Rodgers referenced.
"These statements cannot be construed as anything other than Judge Rodgers' public display of his personal prejudice against Mr. Stoepker and his firm," wrote attorney Roger Wotila, of Cadillac, in a motion to disqualify Rodgers. "Based on the statements ... it is clear that Judge Rodgers' bias in this case is too high to be constitutionally tolerable."
Rodgers acknowledged the mistake but declined additional comment last week. He said he'll address the issue during a hearing on the case Monday morning in 13th Circuit Court.
Carstens' attorney, Mike Dettmer, said Rodgers may have misidentified the attorney but there was no mistake regarding the conduct of Stoepker and Dickinson Wright.
The law firm was involved with Meijer and a Grand Rapids public relations firm during an attempted recall last year of the township board using local citizen groups. Meijer spent more than $100,000 from 2005 through 2007 on its admitted illegal conduct in two township elections, including payments to Dickinson Wright and Stoepker. Meijer's actions resulted in more than $190,000 in fines from the state.
"What Stoepker and Dickinson Wright attempt in this motion is to switch or spin blame ... and responsibility from themselves to the trial judge and his stark but honest observations of their sordid, pathetic and admitted illegal conduct over the course of this litigation," Dettmer wrote in a brief opposed to Rodgers' disqualification. "A judge's candid observations ... (are) not an expression of bias but simply a sad but necessary fulfillment of the responsibility and obligations of a judicial officer in his role overseeing litigation."
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