US Appeals Court Calls Out Judge’s ‘Inappropriate’ Opinion Jokes

A Third Circuit panel scolded a federal judge for including “misguided and ill-conceived attempts at levity” in an opinion regarding a lawsuit over two children killed when a tractor-trailer collided with their mother’s disabled vehicle.

“We are deeply sympathetic to the loss of two young lives, and we have no reason to doubt that the District Judge shared our concerns, despite several inappropriate attempted witticisms, which we discuss in the margin,” Senior Judge Theodore McKee of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit wrote in an opinion released Tuesday referring to the underlying opinion by Judge Matthew Brann of the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

In a footnote, McKee added, “For reasons known only to the District Court, the court thought it appropriate to quip: ‘Unfortunately, despite its name, Ms. Allen’s [Mitsubishi] Mirage was no optical illusion and [the truck driver] was unable to stop, or adequately slow his vehicle before it violently collided” with the victims’ vehicle.

Further, Brann wrote, that “after consulting its crystal ball, the Court foresees the parties filing motions in limine on the eve of trial consistent with the objections they have raised in their briefing, seeking to exclude their opponent’s proferred expert testimony.”

“These attempts at wit are inappropriate given the circumstances of this dispute,” McKee wrote in the footnote. “We do not doubt that the jurist who decided this case gave it the serious attention that it deserved. But such misguided and ill-conceived attempts at levity could be misinterpreted by others—especially by those in the general public—and lead them to conclude that the opinion is something other than the thorough and well-reasoned opinion we consider it to be.”

In the opinion, McKee affirmed Brann’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the defendant in the case, Gateway Freight Systems.

Brann, an appointee of President Barack Obama who joined the court in 2012, has served as chief judge in the district since 2021.

Brann didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment left with his chambers.