Opinion ID: 2809264
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: State-Law and FCTA Claims

Text: Webb and Price alleged state-law trespass, false-arrest, malicious-prosecution, intentional-infliction-of-emotional-distress, and conspiracy claims against the individual Defendants. The United States substituted itself for the federal Defendants, converting state-law claims against Lucas, Cross, Ansari, and Verhiley into FTCA claims against the United States. The district court dismissed Plaintiffs’ state-law and FTCA claims on the ground that there was Nos. 14-3443/3444 Webb, et al. v. United States, et al. Page 32 probable cause to arrest and prosecute Webb and Price. Because there are factual disputes as to the existence of probable cause, we reverse and remand the district court’s grant of summary judgment on state-law claims with respect to the individual Defendants. Price has conceded that his false-arrest and trespass FTCA claims against the United States are time barred, and so those claims were properly dismissed. The United States argues that Webb and Price waived their rights to object to the district court’s grant of summary judgment on the remaining FTCA claims because they failed to raise any counterarguments before the district court. But the United States moved for, and the district court granted, summary judgment on the ground that probable cause foreclosed the Plaintiffs’ state-law claims, and the Plaintiffs have continuously argued that there was no probable cause for their prosecutions. We therefore reverse and remand the remaining FTCA claims against the United States. C. Reassignment to a New District Judge Webb requests reassignment on remand to another judge. To determine whether reassignment is appropriate, we consider the following factors: (1) whether the original judge would reasonably be expected to have substantial difficulty in putting out of his or her mind previously expressed views or findings; (2) whether reassignment is advisable to preserve the appearance of justice; and (3) whether reassignment would entail waste and duplication out of proportion to any gain in preserving the appearance of fairness. U.S. ex rel. Williams v. Renal Care Grp., Inc., 696 F.3d 518, 532-33 (6th Cir. 2012) (citation omitted). Webb cites the first factor as militating in favor of reassignment because the district judge has “already repeatedly decided that this case has no merit.” Webb’s Br. at 72. “Reassignment is an extraordinary power and should be rarely invoked.” Williams, 696 F.3d at 533 (internal quotation marks omitted). In United States v. Bistline, we granted the government’s request for reassignment for sentencing only after the district judge stated, “[i]f I have got to send somebody like Mr. Bistline to prison, I’m sorry, someone else will have to do it. I’m not going to do it.” 720 F.3d 631, 635 (6th Cir. 2013), cert. denied, 134 S. Ct. 1514 (2014). The district judge in this case has not unequivocally demonstrated such an unwillingness to entertain alternative viewpoints. Accordingly, we deny Webb’s request for reassignment. Nos. 14-3443/3444 Webb, et al. v. United States, et al. Page 33