Florida Judge Who’d Repeatedly Taken Baseball Tickets from Slip-and-Fall Lawyers Resigns

A Florida judge who had been charged with ethics violations for repeatedly seeking Major League Baseball tickets from a plaintiffs’ law firm is “Out!”

Former Manatee County Judge John Lakin officially resigned his seat on the bench last week, notifying Gov. Rick Scott by letter. Lakin had been investigated and charged with judicial misconduct by the Judicial Qualifications Commission for repeatedly requesting and accepting Tampa Bay Rays baseball tickets from a law firm while he presided over a slip-and-fall case brought by attorneys from the firm.

Because Lakin appropriately resigned, the Judicial Qualifications Commission dropped the charges. Now it’s up to the Judicial Nomination Commission and Gov. Scott to fill the seat with a jurist who, ideally, is a bigger fan of ethics and justice than baseball — not that there’s anything wrong with baseball.