Opinion ID: 621157
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Recusal Decision

Text: Weisshaus first challenges the district court’s denial of her recusal motion. “Recusal motions are committed to the sound discretion of the district court, and [we] will reverse a decision denying such a motion only for abuse of discretion.” LoCascio v. United States, 473 F.3d 493, 495 (2d Cir. 2007) (per curiam). The timeliness of a recusal motion is a “serious threshold question,” and it is “well-settled that a party must raise its claim of a district court’s disqualification at the earliest possible moment after obtaining knowledge of facts demonstrating the basis for such a claim.” Apple v. Jewish Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 829 F.2d 326, 333 (2d Cir. 1987). In considering the question of timeliness, “[a] number of factors must be examined, including whether: (1) the movant has participated in a substantial manner in trial or pre-trial proceedings; (2) granting the motion would represent a waste of judicial resources; (3) the motion was made after the entry of judgment; and (4) the movant can demonstrate good cause for delay.” Id. at 334 (internal citations omitted). In this case, Weisshaus’s recusal motion was untimely for the reasons articulated by the district court in its thorough and well-reasoned decision. See Weisshaus v. New York, No. 08 Civ. 4053(DLC), 2009 WL 4823932 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 15, 2009). Briefly stated, Weisshaus waited almost nineteen months after filing her complaint to file the recusal motion, at which point the district court had already expended substantial judicial resources overseeing and adjudicating Weisshaus’s claims. Moreover, Weisshaus’s contention that she had good cause to delay until the other defendants were dismissed from the action is entirely unfounded, as Weisshaus herself concedes that Fagan is “the primary defendant” in this matter and that all facts concerning the district judge’s involvement in prior actions involving Fagan and Weisshaus were already known. Although there was no dispositive ruling as to 3 Fagan at the time Weisshaus brought her recusal motion, the district court aptly noted that the motion came on the heels of its direction that Weisshaus submit to a deposition, thus strongly suggesting that the motion was a mere fall-back position in response to an adverse ruling. See In re Int’l Bus. Machs. Corp., 45 F.3d 641, 643 (2d Cir. 1995) (“[A] prompt application avoids the risk that a party is holding back a recusal application as a fall-back position in the event of adverse rulings on pending matters.”). The district court, therefore, acted well within its discretion in finding Weisshaus’s recusal motion untimely. Even if the motion had been timely, however, it was wholly without merit for the reasons explained by the district court. Indeed, Weisshaus appears to have abandoned almost all of the arguments she asserted below, contending on appeal only that the district court could not impartially consider Weisshaus’s claim that Fagan breached his fiduciary duty by failing to appeal a ruling issued by the district court in an earlier case. This argument is entirely unavailing. Whether Fagan breached his fiduciary by allegedly ignoring his client’s request to file an appeal, see Pl.’s Br. 11, is an issue divorced from the merits of the underlying case. Moreover, recusal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) is generally limited to those circumstances in which the alleged partiality “stems from an extrajudicial source.” United States v. Carlton, 534 F.3d 97, 100 (2d Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted). Accordingly, “judicial rulings alone almost never constitute a valid basis for a bias or partiality motion,” and “opinions formed by the judge on the basis of facts introduced or events occurring in the course of the current proceedings, or of prior proceedings, do not constitute a basis for a bias or partiality motion unless they display a deep-seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible.” Liteky v. 4 United States, 510 U.S. 540, 555 (1994). Because Weisshaus does not and cannot argue that the district court’s opinion displayed even a hint of partiality, let alone a “deep-seated favoritism or antagonism,” her challenge to the district court’s denial of her recusal motion must be dismissed.