any such award.
On this appeal, defendant challenges the "judge's refusal to recuse himself," the award of the equity in the marital home exclusively to plaintiff, the denial of discovery relating to the businesses and investment accounts of plaintiff's father (claimed to include assets of plaintiff), the lack of inclusion of plaintiff's business, Fuji Novel Batteries, in equitable distribution, and the decision to exclude testimony of the parties' twenty-four-year-old adult daughter. We reverse and remand for a new trial *1198 because the trial judge should have recused himself.

I.
Upon his appointment to the bench in 1996, the trial judge placed his former partners, William T. Smith and A. Edward Hook, on his disqualification list. In 1997, the judge filed a complaint for dissolution of the partnership, and alleged, among otherthem to settle this case.
As an additional reason for denying recusal in the Mizrahi case, the judge also noted that Smith had been substituted as counsel on the eve of trial, thereby raising the possibility that the motion was a "tactical move to force a recusal."[2]
In the instant case, Smith was substituted as defendant's counsel on October 17, 2006, two months before the scheduled trial date. Prior thereto, the judge had criticized defendant for failing to answer discovery, and orders compelling her to provide discovery had been entered. After Smith entered the case, two management conferences were conducted before the recusal motion was filed. On November 2, 2006, a discovery order was entered in which the parties were each ordered to pay "$50,000 to a litigation fund to