The SCO v. AutoZone case will be reassigned to a new judge "to avoid the appearance of impropriety." Judge David W. Hagen's order, filed March 5, 2004, is here as PDF.
Normally this tends to mean somebody is related to somebody or the judge owns stock or some such thing and rather than have questions raised about bias, they ask to have the case assigned to another judge. I don't know what the impropriety might seem to be in this matter, but it's normal for a judge to decline to hear a case if there could be an appearance of impropriety.
***********************************************
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEVADA
________________________________
THE SCO GROUP, INC., a Delaware
corporation,
Plaintiff,
vs.
AUTOZONE, INC., a Nevada
corporation,
Defendant.
_________________________________
CV-S-04-0237-DWH(LRL)
MINUTES OF THE COURT
March 5, 2004
_________________________________
PRESENT: HONORABLE DAVID W. HAGEN, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE
Deputy Clerk: MICHAEL J. ZADINA Reporter: NONE APPEARING
Counsel for Plaintiff(s): NONE APPEARING
Counsel for Defendant(s): NONE APPEARING
MINUTE ORDER IN CHAMBERS:
To avoid the appearance of impropriety, this action is submitted to Chief Judge Philip M. Pro for reassignment.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
LANCE S. WILSON, CLERK
By: ______[signature]________
Deputy Clerk