A lawsuit related to the primary election between state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, and challenger Scott Timko continues to look more like a game of musical chairs.

In May, Lisa Swinto, Metcalfe's daughter, sued Timko for what she called false and defamatory advertisements from Timko's failed election bid in June.

The Butler County court's acting administrative judge, William Shaffer, recently signed a full bench recusal after two county judges recused themselves from the case. Shaffer's move sends the case to be handled by the state through a visiting judge.

Additionally, Swinto's lawyer, Doug Linn, withdrew his participation in the case.

The prosecution for the case will now be handled by lawyers from the law firm Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham, who were listed as co-counsels for Swinto. A visiting judge is expected to be assigned in the next few days by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

Swinto sued Timko over a campaign pamphlet that she said was printed by Friends of Scott Timko and distributed to “thousands of residents of the 12th Legislative District in Butler County.” Linn claims, among other things, that Timko knew he was publishing false information about her and that the accusations have hurt her standing and reputation within her community.

Linn's representation of Swinto became a point of contention for Timko's lawyers, triggering the series of changes in the case that led to the full bench recusal.

The case was originally assigned to Common Pleas Judge S. Michael Yeager, but Timko's lawyers didn't want Linn to be involved in the case. The lawyers, Timothy Wojton and John Schaffranek, requested last month that Yeager remove himself from presiding over the case.

In their recusal request, they write that they made the decision after realizing that Yeager and the other judges recused themselves from presiding over unrelated criminal cases that Linn faced in the past as a defendant. Linn operates a legal practice out of Cranberry Township.

In the recusal request, Timko's lawyers note that Linn faced criminal charges from a 2014 incident and another criminal case in 2017. They observe that in the 2014 case, a visiting judge was assigned to the case after it initially was assigned to McCune.

In the 2017 case, Judge Marilyn Horan, who would soon go on to a federal bench, was assigned after Butler County's other judges, including Yeager, recused themselves from that case. In the 2017 case, Linn pleaded guilty to summary charges and faced no penalty.

They also note that the judges never gave a reason why they recused themselves from the cases.

“It could appear to a reasonable observer that something about the relationship between Attorney Linn and judges of this Honorable Court” resulted in the decision to recuse themselves, Timko's lawyers wrote.

After Yeager recused himself in June from the suit, the case was reassigned to county Judge Timothy McCune. On July 6, McCune also recused himself from the case. And then on July 15, Linn removed himself.

Shaffer said Linn's removal from the case doesn't change his full bench recusal order.

Linn couldn't be reached for comment about his withdrawal in time for publication.

Lawyers from Swinto and Timko's side couldn't be reached.

In the lawsuit, Swinto, who lives in Florida, asks for a judgment in her favor and for compensation in excess of $35,000. Timko previously said that he thinks the lawsuit has no merit. The case remains stagnant amid all the changes.