IBM Corp has finally won victory in its long-running battle to get Judge David Edelstein off its case. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals granted IBM’s motion to have Judge Edelstein, 84, removed, saying that although the court did not accuse him of bias, his statements about IBM went beyond the courtroom and would cause a reasonable person to question his impartiality. The ruling is seen as unusual because Federal appeals courts are normally reluctant to remove judges on the grounds it would undermine the judiciary and encourage parties to shop around for judges, and it went out of its way to say that Judge Edelstein is one of the ablest and most experienced judges in the New York area: based on our knowledge of the judge’s long and distinguished career we are prepared to assume the judge’s subjective disposition is one of impartiality towards IBM – but that a reasonable observer might think differently. The decision is seen as making it more likely that IBM will succeed in its bid to get the 1956 anti-trust consent decree terminated.
