Questão jurídica principal
Whether the Lausanne labor court had to be recused for appearance of bias because S.________ was both a witness and assessor judge there.
Decisão extraída
Yes. The combination of S.________'s professional ties within the court, his decision-making role, and his involvement in the dispute created an objective appearance of bias.
Fundamentação extraída
Recusal under Art. 47(1)(f) CPC requires serious reasons, but impartiality also protects against objective appearances of partiality. Here, S.________ had regular professional contact with the court members, could have developed personal relations with them, had decision-making authority himself, had acted for the employee in seeking payment, and was to be heard as a witness; these circumstances were sufficient to raise doubts.