Statements made during the campaign trail about a similar, but unrelated case do not warrant recusal, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice said in declining to step away from a pair of cases pending before the high court that challenge the statutory damages cap for state agencies.
Justice David N. Wecht on Aug. 14 issued an opinion and order refusing to recuse from the cases Freilich v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Agency and Schaller v. New Flyer of America after the transportation agency argued that Wecht’s 2015 comments about a similar case merited his recusal. The opinion marked the second time this year Wecht has denied a recusal request based on comments he made during his 2015 campaign.
