Judge William Acker refuses to step aside in civil Katrina case

Judge William Acker refuses to step aside in civil Katrina case

Lawyers for attorney Richard Scruggs and sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby had asked Senior U.S. District Judge William Acker to step down. They questioned Acker’s impartiality to preside over a civil lawsuit stemming from Hurricane Katrina-related insurance documents.

“It would be easy, and it is tempting, simply to grant the recusal motions and to pass this hard case to another judge,” Acker wrote. “This, in good conscience, I cannot do unless I can find a real basis for a third-party’s reasonable perception of bias on my part.”

Birmingham News
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