The New York Law Journal (via Law.com) reports that a New York state appeals court has thrown out a $14 million medical malpractice verdict, holding that a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge's inappropriate conduct, including presenting the brain-damaged 4-year-old plaintiff with a box of candy in front of the jury, denied the defense a fair trial.

My own experience is that such judicial behavior (outside the presence of a jury) is not uncommon -- judges not infrequently show their cards, as it were, during pre-trial settlement hearings. Defendants get a loud and clear message to settle....