Ex Parte Large

Petitioners seek a writ of mandamus to compel the recusal of a circuit court judge on the ground that he was biased and prejudiced against the petitioners.

The underlying action arose when the parents of an injured minor child sought to have their contract with the petitioners set aside on the grounds that it was not being enforced as they understood it. The petitioners had represented the minor child, Stephanie Hayes, suing by and through her father and next friend, Artis Hayes, in a medical malpractice action in 1982; by the terms of the settlement reached in that case, the minor plaintiff…