Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed April 17, 2019.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D18-905
Lower Tribunal No. 15-525
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Mary D. Benitez,
Petitioner,
vs.
Jorge L. Benitez,
Respondent.
A Case of Original Jurisdiction — Prohibition
Mary D. Benitez, in proper person.
Nancy A. Hass, P.A., and Nancy A. Hass, (Fort Lauderdale), for respondent.
Before FERNANDEZ, SCALES, and MILLER, JJ.
MILLER, J.
We treat the instant appeal as a petition for writ of prohibition. See Eato v.
State,
7 So. 3d 633 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009) (treating an appeal from an order denying
a motion for disqualification as a petition for writ of prohibition). As the trial court
correctly denied the legally insufficient disqualification motion, we hereby deny
the petition for writ of prohibition. See Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.330(e) (“A motion to
disqualify shall be filed within a reasonable time not to exceed [ten] days after
discovery of the facts constituting the grounds for the motion and shall be promptly
presented to the court for an immediate ruling.”); see also MacKenzie v. Super
Kids Bargain Store, Inc.,
565 So. 2d 1332, 1335 (Fla. 1990) (“[A]n allegation in a
motion [for disqualification] that a litigant or counsel for a litigant has made a legal
campaign contribution to the political campaign of the trial judge, . . . without
more, is” legally insufficient.); Zaias v. Kaye,
643 So. 2d 687, 687 (Fla. 3d DCA
1994) (“The fact that an attorney made a campaign contribution to a judge or
served on a judge’s campaign committee does not, without more, require
disqualification.”) (citations omitted).
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