Florida judges are starting to get a rep for misbehavin’ here at ATL, from smoking pot in the park to insensitivity on the bench. Now we have two Miami-Dade Circuit judges succumbing to fax machine rage.

From the Miami Herald:

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maria Espinosa Dennis says she was battered at the courthouse — by fellow Circuit Judge David Miller. She says Miller was bent out of shape because the fax machine at her office, which his staff sometimes used, was broken.

Dennis, 52, and Miller, 54, both work at 73 W. Flagler St. They had adjacent offices on the fourth floor. Miller initially spoke to Dennis’ bailiff and judicial assistant about the fax machine, then asked to see her.

When she repeated that the machine was out of order, Miller became ”confrontational and told [Dennis] that he felt that he wasn’t getting the full story,” the Oct. 7 police report says. Miller then “charged toward [Dennis], grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her toward her office in an attempt to close the door behind them.”

The courthouse police came after someone hit a panic alarm. Judge Miller is not the first Florida judge to bully a female colleague. See former Judge of the Day Jay Spechler.

But that’s a pretty extreme reaction to a broken fax machine. We’re wondering what the “full story” might have been. Did Miller suspect that Dennis “office-spaced” it?

Yet another reason to e-mail rather than fax.

Miami-Dade judge: I was battered by a colleague [Miami Herald]