Coleman v. Merritt

Opinion

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 TRAVIS CLINTON COLEMAN, CASE NO. C24-1566-JCC-BAT 10 Plaintiff, MINUTE ORDER 11 v. 12 C. MERITT, et al., 13 Defendants. 14

15 The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable John C. 16 Coughenour, United States District Judge: 17 Before the Court is Plaintiff’s motion for substitution of judges (Dkt. No. 30), which the 18 Court interprets as a motion to recuse pursuant to LCR 3(f). Having thoroughly considered the 19 motion, and for the reasons described below, the Court DENIES the motion and REFERS the 20 matter to the Chief Judge. 21 A federal judge must “disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality 22 might reasonably be questioned,” or “[w]here he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a 23 party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding.” 28 24 U.S.C. §§ 455(a), (b)(1). A judge must disqualify under these provisions if “a reasonable person 25 with knowledge of all the facts would conclude that the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be 26 questioned.” Blixseth v. Yellowstone Mountain Club, LLC, 742 F.3d 1215, 1219 (9th Cir. 2014). 1 “Absent a factual showing of a reasonable basis for questioning his or her impartiality, or 2 allegations of facts establishing other disqualifying circumstances, a judge should participate in 3 cases assigned.” Maier v. Orr, 758 F.2d 1578, 1583 (Fed. Cir. 1985). 4 Plaintiff seeks disqualification primarily because the Court denied his motion for 5 appointed counsel. (See Dkt. No. 30 at 1) (“I am being treated unfairly by the [C]ourt and I want 6 a different judge.”) While Plaintiff may disagree with the Court’s rulings, this is not a basis for 7 disqualification because of impartiality, personal prejudice, or any of the provisions under 28 8 U.S.C. §§ 455(a) or (b). The motion presents insufficient grounds to warrant recusal. See Maier, 9 758 F.2d at 1583 (Fed. Cir. 1985). 10 Accordingly, the Honorable John C. Coughenour, U.S. District Judge, DECLINES to 11 voluntarily recuse and REFERS the motion to Chief Judge under LCR 3(f) for further 12 consideration. 13 14 DATED this 13th day January 2025. 15 Ravi Subramanian 16 Clerk of Court 17 s/Martin Valencia 18 Deputy Clerk 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26