Actual Bias

The requirement that a litigant must meet in order to have a ruling thrown out on appeal on the basis the judge was not impartial. The legal standard does not permit parties to do more than just show the judge’s ruling went against them; the litigants must have some proof that the judge is biased against them. This is a very high standard, and absent some damning evidence, these claims are usually not worth pursuing because how infrequently such claims succeed.