Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-15-01037/USCOURTS-ca10-15-01037-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Tewodros G. Jemaneh
Petitioner

Document Text:

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

In re:

TEWODROS G. JEMANEH,

Petitioner.

No. 15-1037

(D.C. No. 1:12-CV-02383-RM-MJW)

(D. Colo.)

ORDER

Before LUCERO, HARTZ, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges.

Tewodros G. Jemaneh, proceeding pro se, has filed an emergency petition for a 

writ of mandamus. Mr. Jemaneh is the plaintiff in a civil rights action against the 

University of Wyoming and a number of individual defendants arising out of his 

termination from the School of Pharmacy doctoral program. 

His mandamus petition generally alleges that Magistrate Judge Watanabe, 

Judge Moore, and an unknown co-conspirator are biased against him. He complains 

that: his case was reassigned from Judge Martinez to Judge Moore without any 

explanation by an unknown co-conspirator in violation of the local rules, Judge

Moore improperly allowed the defendants to file a second Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) 

motion to dismiss, Judge Moore has refused to rule on the second motion to dismiss, 

Magistrate Judge Watanabe has granted all of defendants’ motions, and Judge Moore 

has refused to respond to any of Mr. Jemaneh’s objections, other than to issue simple 

denials. 

FILED

United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit

March 12, 2015

Elisabeth A. Shumaker

Clerk of Court

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Mr. Jemaneh seeks a writ of mandamus: (1) ordering Judge Moore and 

Judge Watanabe to recuse from his case; (2) vacating the duplication of the Rule 12 

phase of his case and subsequent orders; (3) vacating all orders to which he objected; 

and (4) ordering Judge Moore to rule on defendants’ second Rule 12(b)(6) motion. 

“[W]e will grant a writ only when the district court has acted wholly without 

jurisdiction or so clearly abused its discretion as to constitute usurpation of power.” 

In re Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., 568 F.3d 1180, 1186 (10th Cir. 2009) (internal 

quotation marks omitted). To be entitled to the extraordinary remedy of a writ of 

mandamus, Mr. Jemaneh “must have no other adequate means to attain the relief he 

desires”; his right to the writ must be “clear and indisputable”; and we must be 

satisfied that the writ is an appropriate exercise of our discretion under the 

circumstances. Id. at 1187 (internal quotation marks omitted). 

Mr. Jemaneh is not entitled to mandamus relief on his request to have 

Magistrate Judge Watanabe and Judge Moore recused from his case. We first note 

that his case was reassigned from Judge Martinez to Judge Moore upon 

Judge Moore’s appointment to the district court. There is nothing in the rules 

prohibiting the reassignment of cases to a newly appointed judge. Mr. Jemaneh’s

petition also focuses on adverse rulings that Magistrate Judge Watanabe and 

Judge Moore have entered against him. But “[a]dverse rulings alone are insufficient 

grounds for disqualification.” Lopez v. Behles (In re American Ready Mix, Inc.), 

14 F.3d 1497, 1501 (10th Cir. 1994). With regard to his other complaints, we see

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nothing in Mr. Jemaneh’s mandamus petition that would cause “a reasonable person 

armed with the relevant facts [to] harbor doubts about the judge’s impartiality,” Maez 

v. Mountain States Tel. & Tel., Inc., 54 F.3d 1488, 1508 (10th Cir. 1995). 

The district court has ruled on defendants’ second motion to dismiss, which 

moots Mr. Jemaneh’s request on that issue. As for his assertion that the district court 

improperly allowed defendants to file a second Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, 

Mr. Jemaneh has an adequate, alternative remedy as he may raise that issue on 

appeal.

Accordingly, we deny the petition for a writ of mandamus.

Entered for the Court

ELISABETH A. SHUMAKER, Clerk

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