Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_11-cv-03167/USCOURTS-caed-2_11-cv-03167-4/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 02:437 Federal Election Commission

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

CHRISTOPHER JACKSON, No. 2:11-CV-3167-GEB-CMK-P

Plaintiff, 

vs. ORDER

J. WALKER, et al.,

Defendants.

 /

Plaintiff, a prisoner proceeding pro se, brings this civil rights action pursuant to 

42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court are plaintiff’s motion for reassignment of this matter

to a different Magistrate Judge (Docs. 18 and 20). 

According to plaintiff, the undersigned demonstrates a “pro law enforcement,

California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, and anti prisoner” bias. Plaintiff reaches

this conclusion based on plaintiff having participated in a settlement conference in another case

in which the undersigned was the settlement judge. According to plaintiff, the undersigned told

him in the context of that settlement conference that “the jury wouldn’t award me anything for a

‘tummy ache’” and that he had filed the lawsuit just to get time out of the prison. According to

plaintiff, this was demeaning. 

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Plaintiff’s motions are governed by 28 U.S.C. § 144, which provides as follows:

Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a

timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is

pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of

any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further therein, but another

judge shall be assigned to hear such proceeding.

Berger v. United States, 255 U.S. 22 (1922), is the seminal case interpreting § 144. See U.S. v.

Azhocar, 581 F.2d 735, 738 (1976). As a preliminary matter, the Court in Berger held that the

judge against whom a disqualification motion is brought may pass on its legal sufficiency. See

Berger, 255 U.S. at 233. To be sufficient, the motion must state facts which, if true, fairly

support the allegation of bias or prejudice which stems from an extrajudicial source and which

may prevent a fair decision. See Azhocar, 581 F.2d at 740-41. Thus, the Supreme Court in

Berger also held that adverse rulings alone cannot constitute the necessary showing of bias or

prejudice. See Berger, 255 U.S. at 34. 

In this case, the court finds that plaintiff has not presented legally sufficient

motions to disqualify. Specifically, he has not demonstrated that the alleged bias stems from an

extrajudicial source. To the contrary, the statements attributed to the undersigned occurred, if at

all, in the context of a judicially-supervised settlement conference. Moreover, the undersigned’s

candid comments offered during a settlement conference do not demonstrate anything more than

just that – a candid assessment of plaintiff’s case with settlement in mind. The very nature of a

settlement conference requires attempting to bring the parties to the middle, and oftentimes this

involves being candid with the parties about their chances at trial. To the extent the undersigned

made the statements attributed to him here, they were made with the goal of a fair settlement in

mind and not for the purpose of demeaning plaintiff or his claims. 

/ / /

/ / /

/ / /

/ / /

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’s motions to disqualify the

currently assigned Magistrate Judge (Doc. 18 and 20) are denied. 

DATED: February 5, 2013

______________________________________

CRAIG M. KELLISON

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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