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An appeals court in Florida ruled that Facebook friendships don't constitute close relationships in the real world.
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An appeals court in Florida ruled that Facebook friendships don’t constitute close relationships in the real world.
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A Miami judge will not be forced to recuse herself because she is Facebook “friends” with an attorney in one of her cases, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 10-page ruling established that not all Facebook “friends” are people with whom members have close relationships, the Miami Herald reported.

“Electronic social media is evolving at an exponential rate,” Third District Court of Appeal Judge Thomas Logue wrote in the unanimous opinion. “Acceptance as a Facebook ‘friend’ may well once have given the impression of close friendship and affiliation. Currently, however, the degree of intimacy among Facebook ‘friends’ varies greatly.”

The ruling resolves a case in which Miami law firm Herssein and Herssein sued its former client, the United Services Automobile Association, for fraud and breach of contract. It was assigned to Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko.

The Hersseins noted that Butchko was Facebook friends with former Miami-Dade circuit judge Israel Reyes, who had been hired to represent a United Services Automobile Association executive.

They insisted that Butchko’s virtual friendship with the defense attorney could result in an unfair verdict.

They called on Butchko to recuse herself citing a “well-grounded fear of not receiving a fair and impartial trial,” according to the ruling. They also said they believed Reyes had influenced Butchko, which should disqualify her, according to the opinion

Butchko declined and the Hersseins appealed, leading the court to rule against them.

The appellate court said that a “Facebook friendship does not necessarily signify the existence of a close relationship,” noting that some people have “friend” counts in the thousands.

Logue also said that “Facebook members often cannot recall every person they have accepted as ‘friends’ or who have accepted them as ‘friends.'”

Logue argued that Facebook connections are often based on predictive algorithms and datamining technology, and not personal interactions.

He said that real-world proof of an actual friendship between the pair would be necessary to justify the Hersseins’ fear of an impartial judge.

“Because a ‘friend’ on a social networking website is not necessarily a friend in the traditional sense of the word, we hold that the mere fact that a judge is a Facebook ‘friend’ with a lawyer for a potential party or witness, without more, does not provide a basis for a well-grounded fear that the judge cannot be impartial or that the judge is under the influence of the Facebook ‘friend.'”

The ruling opposes an earlier opinion on the same topic.

In 2012, a Palm Beach appeals court ordered a judge to recuse himself because he was Facebook friends with the prosecutor of a criminal case.