“Because the trial judge had entered an order of recusal without any limitation before his entry of the order on appeal, he had no authority to enter the order on appeal.”
A judge’s decision to recuse himself from a child custody case barred him from entering another order years later, the North Carolina Court of Appeals concluded this week.
On Wednesday, the North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated the entry of a custody order because Durham County District Judge Clayton Jones lacked the authority to enter a September 2023 order after he recused himself from the case in 2021. Jones had granted the plaintiff Marino M. Green’s recusal motion for claims that Jones had expressed personal bias against him. On appeal, Green argued that the judge erred in entering the 2023 ruling on child support and custody issues, claiming Jones had no authority to do so after previously stepping down.
