St. Lucie Judge Yacucci suspended for 30 days
St. Lucie Judge Yacucci suspended for 30 days
Senior Editor
A rancorous relationship between a judge and a lawyer who became his political rival — strewn with lawsuits, a fight at a polling place, televised verbal attacks, and jailing the lawyer for contempt — has resulted in a 30-day suspension and public reprimand for the judge.
St. Lucie County Judge Philip James Yacucci, Jr., will be publicly reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court on December 6, as the court carried out the discipline recommended by the Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Judge Yacucci must also complete a judicial ethics course and pay the costs of the JQC proceedings.
“The hearing panel recognized that ‘[i]t is hard to conceive a situation more likely to create a reasonable fear and partiality and bias on the part of a litigant than the long-standing, personal and professional disputes between these parties,’” according to the court’s per curiam ruling in Case No. SC16-2178.
Eventually, Judge Yacucci conceded the findings and most recommendations, disputing only the recommendation of a 30-day suspension as excessive and inconsistent with the court’s precedent.
The contentious scenario detailed in the court’s order described the judge’s clashes with attorney Stephen Smith, who joined his current employer “The Ticket Clinic” in 2009 and handled all of the clinic’s cases in St. Lucie County.
Judge Yacucci held Smith in contempt in 2009 for accidentally showing up late to a hearing, and again in 2014 when the judge jailed Smith for five days for “hotly disputed” reasons, according to the order.
During the 2014 contempt finding, Yacucci announced in the courtroom that he had “lost confidence” in Smith, sparking the judge to file a complaint with The Florida Bar against the lawyer, which was later resolved with no imposition of discipline.
That year, in a highly combative election, Smith ran against Yacucci for a county court seat. Judge Yacucci sued Smith and an electioneering communications organization for defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and the judge obtained a temporary injunction against the organization, but the Fourth District Court of Appeal overturned it for lacking supporting evidence and for triggering First Amendment concerns.
Before Election Day, Smith and Yacucci got in a heated verbal and physical fight at a polling place, causing the lawyer to sue the judge for assault, battery, and defamation. Immediately following the fight, during a televised interview in the courtroom, Judge Yacucci said that Smith “should not be a lawyer,” “should not be in a courtroom,” and that he is “truly a disgrace as a judicial candidate and really as a human being.”
In December 2014, Judge Yacucci won the election, but was summoned before the JQC to discuss his behavior, and the judge agreed to recuse himself on Smith’s cases. That lasted two-and-a-half years, but in September 2016, Judge Yacucci refused to recuse himself in a case, asserting he had recused himself on Smith’s cases for long enough and that Smith “was simply a conduit of The Ticket Clinic,” and that the clinic had funded the election campaign against him and was attempting to forum shop by funding judicial campaigns.
During a May 1, 2017, evidentiary hearing of the JQC, Judge Yacucci maintained he did not act inappropriately during the polling place altercation and that his televised statements about Smith were truthful.
Ultimately, the hearing panel found Judge Yacucci guilty of violating Canons 2, 2A, 3B(8), 3B(9), and 3E(1) of the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct.
While Judge Yacucci argued the 30-day suspension is unfair, the court responded: “Judge Yacucci’s conduct warrants a sanction harsher than a mere public reprimand, as his longstanding combative relationship with Smith created legitimate fears of partiality and bias on the part of several litigants before his court.
“The acrimonious relationship between Judge Yacucci and Smith, marked by lawsuits, a public altercation and televised disparagement, the jailing of Smith for contempt, judicial campaign disputes, unsolicited attempts to influence a petition for writ of prohibition, and multiple refusals to disqualify himself, clearly displayed Judge Yacucci’s disregard for proper judicial conduct.”
Justice Barbara Pariente concurred with the majority reasoning, but dissented on the punishment because she concluded a harsher 90-day suspension was warranted. Justice Peggy Quince agreed.
“Before the JQC and this court, Judge Yacucci asserts that his conduct was motivated by a concern to maintain the independence of the judiciary, which he asserts was under siege by the actions of attorney Smith, and his employer, The Ticket Clinic. Specifically, Judge Yacucci alleges that attorney Smith engaged in an unethical campaign with the sole goal of obtaining Judge Yacucci’s blanket recusal from any of his cases following the campaign,” Pariente wrote.
“But the conduct of attorney Smith is not before this court, and Judge Yacucci’s actions in this case, as found by the JQC, show that Judge Yacucci failed to act in a ‘manner that promoted public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.’.. .
“Just as we expect attorneys to treat judges with respect, judges have an obligation to treat attorneys with respect.”
