This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2003-07-10 |
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J. |
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| may not be held administratively accountable for every erroneous order or decision he renders.[14] To hold otherwise would be to render judicial office untenable, for no one called upon to try the facts or interpret the law in the process of administering justice can be infallible in his judgment.[15] For a judge to be held administratively liable for ignorance of the law, the error must be gross or patent, deliberate and malicious, or incurred with evident bad faith.[16] Bad faith does not simply connote bad judgment or negligence; it imputes a dishonest purpose or some moral obliquity and conscious doing of a wrong; a breach of a sworn duty through some motive or intent or ill-will; it partakes of the nature of fraud.[17] It contemplates a state of mind affirmatively operating with furtive design or some motive of self-interest or ill-will for ulterior purposes.[18] While this Court will never tolerate or condone any act, conduct or omission that would violate the norm of public accountability or diminish the peoples' faith in the judiciary, neither will it hesitate to shield those under its employ from unfounded suits that only serve to | |||||