A lengthy divorce proceeding plagued with claims of judicial bias and improperly awarded legal fees left the Connecticut Supreme Court with a question: were a judge’s “ill-advised” comments about the plaintiff evidence of bias?

Marianna Ponns Cohen appealed to the Connecticut Supreme Court in July 2021 in her divorce case after she said the judgment of the trial court should be reversed for plain error because the court improperly prejudged her credibility and displayed judicial bias.